What makes the best programmer? What makes the best web developer, the best hacker?

What makes the best of these fields? The outliers that seem to know something that the average professional in the same field doesn’t, and still more than even someone we would consider an expert. I don’t know if it’s Mark Zuckerberg, or Jeff Bezos. I know Zuckerberg was at least a competent programmer, who was able to consistently add features to early Facebook and iterate on them, through combined frontend/backend knowledge. He built a custom AI assistant for his home, which takes at least a functioning skillset, but I wouldn’t say makes him an outlier. I’m sure most top level programmers could spin something similar up. I feel the takeaway is that he wasn’t the best, but he was extremely driven and had a wider skillset than the average programmer, which he continued to build upon. Bezos had to be at least somewhat competent in order to graduate from Princeton with a degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, as well as lay groundwork for Amazon. Though I don’t know of anyone explicitly saying he was a top level programmer or engineer and it seems he rapidly pivoted into more managerial roles and started hiring for the engineering roles. He was also skilled enough to run the numbers on how popular the internet might be and built a service that eventually billions of people would use.

To say that they weren’t both the type of outlier I am thinking of is not to say they weren’t both skilled at what they did. They both needed a certain level of skill to build their platforms, but then after a while public interest took over enough that they were able to float on the cloud of investor funding, while they pivot their roles and hire to accommodate the rapid growth. They are certainly outliers, but I’m not sure they’re outliers in Computer Science. I’m not going to find what makes the best hacker by studying Zuck or Bezos and I don’t want to know how to come up with the next billion dollar idea.

Then who?

And what exactly is it I want to be good at? Maybe it’s not even programming in a traditional sense.

I know that I want to know how a computer works so thoroughly that I’m able to surgically dismantle any piece of technology that assimilates Digital Logic and turn it into whatever my imagination can muster, whether that be the hardware itself, the firmware specific to a device or the software within. I want to be able to say “This needs x” and then develop a unique x. I see Computer Science as a series of spells and castings, bound by the laws of physics, but whose bounds know no limits within those laws. I want to wield these spells, contribute to others and conjure some of my own. Where Merlin is seen as the best I want to rival his power.

Does that mean I want to be a hacker? Does it just mean I want to be a programmer? Does it mean I’m in search of something unattainable?

I’ve already started my own path to becoming what I envision, but as others before me I will need to stand on the shoulders of giants to see a little further. Therefore, on my journey I will need to know who is already at this level (and beyond) and study them to at least give me a metric or something to shoot for. If it’s not Zuckerberg and it’s not Bezos, then who? Are they even someone that would be working an average tech job? Is it perhaps someone who is involved with some of the “tech elite”, such as Wozniak or Tony Fadell? Is it the likes of some of the elite hackers who participate and win competitions like Pwn2Own or ascertain black Defcon badges? Would it even be someone who’s accessible on social media or even has an email I could contact? Or are they in their own domain eating, breathing, dreaming and conjuring spells? Becoming the best, with no concern as to whether or not anyone ever knows what they could truly accomplish?

Do I even need to compare myself to these people? Or can I just stick to my own path, learn what I want to learn, in my own way and become a wizard in my own right? Do I get there by applying unconventional and creative practice methods, day in and day out? Do I need something extra?