Neal Stephenson writes about this in my favorite "the diamond age," he calls it honer and forger. The type of engineer that is better at improving an existing thing vs. creating something new.
There's a need for all types.
There's a need for all types.
"Hackworth was a forger, Dr. X was a honer. The distinction was at least as old as the digital computer. Forgers created a new technology and then forged on to the next project, having explored only the outlines of its potential. Honers got less respect because they appeared to sit still technologically, playing around with systems that were no longer start, hacking them for all they were worth, getting them to do things the forgers had never envisioned."