Elite programmers absolutely exist, but not because elite software developers are smarter or more brilliant than normal ones. Instead I think that the best sof

Elite programmers absolutely exist, but not because elite software developers are smarter or more brilliant than normal ones. Instead I think that the best software developers do the following 1. Ability to rapidly prototype responsibly - make good choices about which short cuts can be taken, and making sure everyone understands the implications of those shortcuts. There is some curve of doing things right and doing things fast, and the good people I've seen can walk this line appropriately given the business demands. 2. Ability to not get bogged down in writers block or analysis paralysis, which I've seen take out weeks of productivity in less experienced programmers (everyone gets this some time, regardless of experience) 3. Domain knowledge of the problem at hand - so that you know what you build will actually be useful. Everyone can be told what should be done by sales or whatever, but combining knowledge into one head rather than 2 is vastly more productive 4. Enabling the above 3 things for the rest of your team.