Considering that there’s no consistent definition of what is meant by mediocre programmers vs “good”, “really good” etc, I get the feeling that this isn’t a ver

Considering that there’s no consistent definition of what is meant by mediocre programmers vs “good”, “really good” etc, I get the feeling that this isn’t a very productive approach to measuring the skill of programming. As the responses to your comment demonstrate, it’s hard to get a common definition and thus I feel this discussion to be fairly pointless. I will say this though: there is nothing magic about programming, or really any technical skills like it. It’s all about practice and getting better with time. I do sincerely believe that anyone can be a productive programmer that delivers within the constraints that are demanded of them. If you’re talking about “prodigies” or “polymath” or people that have certain conditions that allow them to be more productive without the same amount of effort, yes, I do agree such people exist. And they exist in every field. I don’t think they should be what most programmers should try to emulate though.