7 Traits That Separate an Exceptional Engineer from an Ordinary One

I find this kind of lists quite amusing. Since I too am guilty of blogging such things, when I used to blog, whenever I read such lists I assume the writer is talking about the traits they have that they regard as whatever adjective they are using, and signalling, subtly, either to potential recruiters or existing bosses, that they themselves are indeed so.

The points mentioned in the article are a bit misplaced. Aspects such as taking ownership, taking initiatives, going out of their way to help their peers etc are product of the environment. They also bleed into leadership territory. That is another thing about this article, is it talking about a team member or a lead engineer? The point about commitment to deadline is dubious. It says

> They are not hesitant in going extra miles in order to meet the committed deadline and to fulfil the agreement.

This sort of going extra mile has always baffled me. What does it mean? Working overtime? Working after office hours from home voluntarily? Unless there is a bonus for completing a task before the promised deadline, what's the need to do this? Is it because there were last minute feature additions? Then it is really the incompetence of the manager and has nothing to do with the exceptionalness of an engineer. If anything it shows that the engineer is weak and spineless. I would argue that a good engineer would fight against this, or request appropriate amount of time by citing the project management triangle. Anyway, this point smacks of a job in software service rather than product, and since I have always worked in product, that didn't do this, I can't comment anymore.

For me, an exceptional engineer is someone who keeps churning out ideas and POC for them, and keeps the product evolving constantly. He often finds himself in a position where he needs to learn something new, or ask questions about something he doesn't understand, and does it. He leaves no stone unturned to accomplish the task. He perseveres. He is humble enough to learn from someone half his age. He doesn't hack things, he builds them carefully.