[protomyth]

Even reading your comment charitably, I am left with the thought that you consider me some country bumpkin that hasn't been exposed to high quality programmers.

I'll point out the previous conversations about selection bias of universities and the companies who hire their students. I'll also point out that people go to different places because a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Few actually get to walk the straight path, and I find people who don't recognize the luck they have received are poorer in spirit for it. I think you suffer more from selection bias and a need to uplift your position than I.

"I wouldn't call any random programmer from a random company writing CRUD apps great." - I suppose someone could say the same about those who serves up ads or writes webmail clients. I believe the world is amazingly interesting with the unique problems we face as programmers and challenges lie in the heart of many pieces of software. We are much too young a profession to think that the world is routine.

"Many people consider a programmer to be great if he writes very clean, logical and easy to understand code."

I would also say the best sprinters are fast. I guess I have a reverence for those who write in a clean, logical, easy fashion. I like elegance in all things and find it a very high complement. How else would one show in-depth understanding? The code is the expression of programming, not the spoken word or lecture. I guess I'm a simple man, and believe in people showing me.