Becoming one of the best ever is only possible if your IQ is one of the best ever. There is going to be some biological upper limit. Minds like Torvalds, Richie, Thompson are rare; and there is nothing you can do to reach that level if your own source code isn't on the same level. However, there is a lot of great advice here that can take you to your full potential, whatever that may be. That's important too, because it sure it easy to keep yourself well below that level.
seba_dos1|3 years ago
Going a bit OT, but what do you think makes these minds so rare? They're obviously pretty smart, maybe even very smart - you have to be smart enough in order to become so accomplished after all - but I wonder whether people don't often simply mistake accomplishment with brilliance. I'm pretty sure you could find other people who, being in the right place at the right time and with enough endurance, would be able to fill their shoes. You can't become as accomplished as Torvalds is by simply repeating what he did with Linux since 1991, but today; that niche's already taken, Torvalds 2.0 would be just one of many kernel devs now and their own version control system wouldn't even have an advantage of being used by Linux.
chrismatheson|3 years ago
Although I believe there is some truth in what your saying, that those engineers had minds which are rare, I personally don’t believe it’s all genetics. Practice, experience, craftsmanship and purpose will lead a person to the same outcome.