[danut]

I think people like Knuth, Torvalds, Carmack, etc. are the models for career development. Why would you assume that a strategy that didn't work for any of the biggest guys around would be better for you than theirs?

[gnaritas]

Because in all likelihood, most people don't have what they have. Those guys are outliers, not the norm.

[nostrademons]

I think that answer's a cop-out. Knuth, maybe. But Carmack and Torvalds had pretty unremarkable starts as programmers.