Agreed. If he has no pull with management, and this is what his experience with 'superstar programmers' amounts to, he should find a place of employment with be

Agreed. If he has no pull with management, and this is what his experience with 'superstar programmers' amounts to, he should find a place of employment with better technical people. And BTW, anybody who a) accepts being labeled a 'superstar programmer', or b) accepts being labeled a 'superstar programmer' without being at least obviously uncomfortable about it, or c) or accepts being labeled a 'superstar programmer' by non-technical people, is most definitely not a superstar programmer. And rarely will you see anyone who actually know what the hell they're talking about label someone else a 'superstar programmer'. Because there is always someone at least twice as good.