The most recent SWE in the mainstream spotlight I can think of was Notch, the author of Minecraft. I don't know if the engineering is super-noteworthy, but it w

The most recent SWE in the mainstream spotlight I can think of was Notch, the author of Minecraft. I don't know if the engineering is super-noteworthy, but it was good enough to make a very valuable product in a short time with few people.