[robocat]

This article seems to limit itself to the "enterprise" definition of a great software engineer.

The greatest software engineers in small businesses (or personal projects) don't do much development work. Instead they are working as true engineers: making good compromises and solving problems outside of the software which usually leads them into roles that don't have "software" or "engineer" in the title.

[snarf21]

So true. It is about solving problems with software, adding value to the project and just generally giving a crap about the work they do. The last is one of the hardest as so many people are what I refer to as "hack 'n slash" devs, with an attitude of "I just did what I was told....".