> On a side note, it seems like people value persistence more than creativity because it's more attainable by everyone. We can't all be creative freaks like Tes

> On a side note, it seems like people value persistence more than creativity because it's more attainable by everyone. We can't all be creative freaks like Tesla, Van Gogh, or Einstein, but we can all work really really hard at what we do. I find it interesting that many people on this site are convinced that creativity - even the really unique kind that great inventors possess - is not actually "special" but can be replaced with hard work, as though we're all Einsteins who just lack motivation. I wonder if that's just rooted in irritation with web designers, many of whom are fond of criticizing programmers for their often poor graphic design skills. Although intelligence is wasted on the lazy, I somehow doubt that many here would disagree that it is both important in order to be a truly great programmer, as well as something relatively rare enough to be valuable.