[odonnellryan]

I find it hard to really understand certain things: design patterns, data structures, and sometimes algorithms, without trying them.

I knew a very, very bright person who could come up with some great and clean code. He definitely understood the problem and his solution was "optimal." Problem, before he even started coding he did an insane amount of research. Not just learning syntax, common patterns, etc.. but to the point of memorizing the entire standard library and reading several books on the problem domain before even beginning with some hash-it-out code. This wasn't for hard problems, just simple CRUD apps (for the most part.) Made it impossible to work with him as a team member.

[nvader]

I'm not seeing the drawback to him. It may have even worked out to his benefit, as over time his knowledge of the craft would grow out of proportion to the rest of his team, say, who were solely focussed on getting things done.

I must say I'm really curious. What was his career trajectory? Has he been successful since?

[odonnellryan]

Not sure, I don't believe so.