At the end of the day I believe the common threads of these type of people are experience, motivation, and direction. For reference, I started my full time career as a software engineer in 2012 and worked my way from SE to Senior Engineering Manager, I have come in to contact with a lot of software engineers.
There is nothing magical about highly effective software engineers. They are usually * Experienced something like 5 - 8 years * Good at self improvement * Focused in one area and one set of tools * Hard workers * Motivated, driven by something inside themselves to code * They are given clear goals and outcomes
Some of the highly effective engineers I've worked with are highly independent and difficult to work with, some have been kind team players, some have been always on the cutting edge and some have gotten really good with one tool and never wanted to change. People who are good at things are still just people and come in all shapes and sizes and personalities.