You are not talking about the same people as the GP though. The people who do 9-5 coding are clearly not often the same ones as those who have contributed to t

You are not talking about the same people as the GP though. The people who do 9-5 coding are clearly not often the same ones as those who have contributed to the Linux kernel. What I have found is that, of the people I work with, there are some who are great at what they do. As they gain experience the style of greatness often changes, but the magnitude does not. (I have even worked with people who become more risk seeking as they progress - they know it can't be done but they don't care as they are confident they can hack around it in time. Cooks especially, but some programmers too.)