[slowhand09]

They are rare, but definitely out there. I've worked with one, managed one, never been one. One charateristic I observed over these 2, they'd take a manual home and read it over a day or two. They'd retain most of it. They tend to be touch typist not needing to look at the keyboard often. This reduces context switching and lets them flow when they are being creative. They know and remember syntax, library routines and interfaces so they aren't stopping to look things up. They "try on the fly", fail fast and often, and move to alternatives when blocked. The ones I know I'd love to start a company with. But I would be the bottleneck...