
Rock star coders - luccastera
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9057899&intsrc=hm_ts_head
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mich
Yes, Tomek and SnapDragon are great, however the rest of the programmers
mentioned (checked their websites and stuff) don't seem anything special, let
alone rock star. I consider a rock star someone who can solve tough problems,
not create a basic database-backed website in Rails over the weekend.

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jgrahamc
It is a weird list, but I'd never heard of SnapDragon and he barely seems to
be mentioned on Wikipedia. It also appears that they got his name wrong (it's
Kisman not Kinsman).

Anyone tell me where I can read more?

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mich
Some of his (non-programming) achievements: <http://www.the-
elite.net/thehall/snap.htm>

He has been long one of the very top TopCoder members (for which you need
absolutely superior algorithm skills to be ranked that high), I think he has
also won ACM finals one year. He is very well known in the problem-solving
community.

Another guy I rank very highly is Steve Newman, he also had a rating over 3000
at TopCoder, but he is not competing anymore and has started a startup Writely
(acquired by Google) - now Google Docs.

Yes, programming contests aren't everything -- but I can say I've learned
almost everything I know about algorithms by competing there. And algorithms
are important, if you are not doing just some simple web app.

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wallflower
One difference between being a rock star programmer and a rock star? Female
groupies.

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marketer
Great article, I love the references to Tomek and Snapdragon. Although
classifying Snapdragon a rock star programmer seems belittling, considering
all his video game, puzzle, and math achievements.

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wallflower
The best programmers I know are five to six times as productive as average
programmers and are paid two to three times as much.

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wallflower
I work with one. The productivity is an arbitrary measure in terms of how much
unit tests they write and core functionality they contribute to the project.
Architecture/infrastructure has a definite skewed ratio. It's mainly all
server-side. I used to work with another who was known for merciless code
reviews where developers would be reduced to almost tears. I avoided him. They
aren't the most social of animals but I'd hire him for a startup.

