I think it's even less than that. I think the critical element is interest. I think even an average individual can have valuable contributions to a codebase if:

I think it's even less than that. I think the critical element is interest. I think even an average individual can have valuable contributions to a codebase if: a) the requirements, what needs to be achieved and standards of quality are clear b) they are interested in contributing. That's it. I think the bar for software development is pretty low at the time being (but I'm not in the SF area, so maybe my outlook is myopic and limited to the local scene) and you can improve things noticeably if you just... care... and think things through. A feat quite hard in our days. Heck, some days, I can't make myself care,and sometimes I don't feel like pushing and doing things right no matter how much I wish I could. I _know_ I'm capable, I've done it before, had high focus spurts where I did stuff nobody else could. But I simply don't feel in lately. Sometimes it's hard to even push myself to do usefull things, and I'm pretty severe regarding my performance. So, caring about the end result, in our days, I think, is in pretty short supply. Much shorter than most people think.