The "top 1%" is such a great phenomenon. I remember in the 2000 election the top 1% of earners were daemonized by then VP Gore. In a survey some 20% of people t

The "top 1%" is such a great phenomenon. I remember in the 2000 election the top 1% of earners were daemonized by then VP Gore. In a survey some 20% of people thought they were in the top 1% and another 19% aspired to be. And that's with something easily quantifiable. How exactly do you quantify the percentile of a programmer? FWIW I make no such claim about being the top 1% nor do I claim SO ranking translates to the nebulous concept of a programmer's ranking. If anything, SO reputation is a function of time more than anything else. It's also an indicator of persistence but only a positive indicator (meaning lack of a SO ranking obviously doesn't mean a lack of persistence).