I think what he meant is that it's impossible to "make" someone a great programmer, as in "transform him by applying external force". If so, then I agree - it's

I think what he meant is that it's impossible to "make" someone a great programmer, as in "transform him by applying external force". If so, then I agree - it's impossible to "teach" or "convince" someone to write for example readable code, one must learn on his own through practice.