Sorry, I don't have a link to some beautiful code. I assume that as a developer you are interested in solving (business?) problems through the act of writing s

Sorry, I don't have a link to some beautiful code. I assume that as a developer you are interested in solving (business?) problems through the act of writing software? It isn't much different than being a painter I guess. To be able to be a good painter (or to be considered a good painter) you first need to have a good grasp on how to use the brush and how to handle paint (e.g. oil paint), i.e. you need to learn the technique. The more versed you become with the technique the better you will become at painting, or, over time you will become better at painting what you intent to paint, to paint what's in your minds-eye because you don't have to think about the brush and paint anymore. When it comes to software you first need to have a good grasp on programming. This means you will need to spend time practising the act of programming. Using two languages that are very different from each other might be good. E.g. learn an imperative and functional language. In your case this might e.g. Ruby and Lisp. Your programs will need to interact with other systems so you probably need to learn about operating systems, databases, queues, networking, etc. You probably don't have to be an expert in everything but being a good all-rounder will certainly be beneficial. Over time you will see that it becomes easier to think in solutions of the bat rather than focusing on how you're going to solve a problem. This is basically what is being referred to as experience. So, to be a good developer you need to put in the effort and you need to put in the time. There usually aren't any short cuts. I've been doing this professionally for over 20 years and I'm still learning every day.