He directly insulted me, clarify how in your thinking, this has anything to do with hero worship? Stating your views without falling back on the needless application of profanity is something I'd appreciate.
I'm pretty his/her intention was not to insult you. Since you won't even consider the possibility that you're not a great engineer, perhaps you're just bad at finding decent jobs and contracts? Or you're bad at negotiating pay? I'm honestly a little confused because my impression is that contractors and consultants make more money than full-time employees.
If you understand great as considerably better than average, then you probably aren't great. I'm not. Almost no one is, although almost everyone thinks they beat the curve.
If you understand great to mean merely competent, then I think you're abusing the meaning of "great".