To me one factor that matter a lot is motivation, or a goal to achieve something. In my field I see a lot of people coming into CS just because it's trendy and

To me one factor that matter a lot is motivation, or a goal to achieve something. In my field I see a lot of people coming into CS just because it's trendy and they will sure have a job after graduation. But they lack the motivation to do something in that field. A lot are just in it because the pay is great and you can around computers all day.. I remember when I was 9 I had a goal, I wanted to make a game. I didn't even have a computer back then, but I knew I wanted to make a game so others could play it. I remember spending afternoons drawing level design, characters and how the game would work once I had my own computer. I never actually made a game but I loved the idea of creating something for other to use. When I was 14 (now with a Pentium 100mhz good times) I wanted to be an hacker (hehe), so I learned C, Socket programming, I wet my feet into Linux, I started messing around deamons like email, web server. When I was 18 I needed money, my parents couldn't afford to pay my tuition. So I created an app, to add my empty Resume and got hired by a software company to develop web apps. Tens years fast-forward and here I am today, still making apps that people can use and still learning everyday, working for an awesome company, having my own small software-shop on the side and doing what I love to do. I may not excel in my field, I may not be disruptive (haha), but I truly love what I do and can't honestly see myself doing anything else. I just wanted to say that's fine not to excel or to be in the top 10. If that's your goal, go for it, but as long as you love what you do and have something that motivate you I'm pretty sure you will do just fine.