What Makes a Great Programmer?

In my recent blog posting "The Secrets to Becoming a Great Programmer" I discuss a couple of characteristics of great programmers.  You can read about those characteristics at 

The Secrets to Becoming a Great Programmer

What other characteristics make a programmer great?  Do you agree with my assessment?

Parents
  • In that case, I would say before one can become a great software engineer, they need to go through the drudgery of programming.  Just because someone can code does not make a good system in the end.  It still needs a good system architect to make good manageable, efficient, and maintainable codes. 

Reply
  • In that case, I would say before one can become a great software engineer, they need to go through the drudgery of programming.  Just because someone can code does not make a good system in the end.  It still needs a good system architect to make good manageable, efficient, and maintainable codes. 

Children
  • Indeed, and a lot of discipline!

    Becoming a good programmer or software engineer isn't done overnight. Often this takes years and in some cases (like mine) decades...

  • Lovely discussion!

    It's so important to recognise that what makes a good programmer and what makes a good software engineer are very different. I know individuals who are incredibly talented programmers but just don't get the "engineering" thing at all; conversely, I know excellent engineers who can't write code for toffee (hope that's not too UK-centric a phrase but I'm sure you can work out what it means!)

    A really good "software engineer" combines both.