I believe the mark of a good developer is four-fold:
(a) LEARNING: When you stop learning, you stop growing. No programmer will ever reach a point at which they no longer need to learn just as much as they did as a beginner. There are always new languages, patterns, paradigms, practices, interfaces, abstractions, and goals.
(b) TRANSLATION: The easy part is deciding what you want to do (i.e. "scrape all tweets with the word 'programming' in them). The hard part is deciding HOW to approach that problem. This can be thought of us "translation" - converting human thought into computer logic. The human brain and the CPU are inherently incompatible devices. The coder translates between the two by thinking like both.
I would say that TRANSLATION is the "coder's instinct" that is so important to what we do.
(c) CODING: The best code in the world is worth very little if no one can maintain it. The article you linked to summarizes good code very well for this purpose, I think.
Side note, CODING is why I have very little respect for certain people implicitly considered coding "idols" - reading their code is an exercise in futility. They're the only ones who can ever hope to really understand their own code, which is a mark of a poor coder.
(d) COMMUNICATION: It was Joel Spolsky who said that the ability to communicate is the single most important skill a coder can have, even more important than technical skills! I've found this to be true time and again.
A good communicator can engage in exchanges with other people that allow them to LEARN (a). They can understand human user needs, ask questions, and explain limitations as part of TRANSLATION (b). They can write, comment, and document god CODE (c).
A Word Of Caution: I have met coders who, while inexperienced and tripping along with shaky legs, aim for all four of these points. I would consider them GOOD CODERS, even in their inexperienced state. Indeed, one of these coders will accomplish far more than even a 20+ year veteran coder who lacks these skills.
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I believe the mark of a good developer is four-fold:
(a) LEARNING: When you stop learning, you stop growing. No programmer will ever reach a point at which they no longer need to learn just as much as they did as a beginner. There are always new languages, patterns, paradigms, practices, interfaces, abstractions, and goals.
(b) TRANSLATION: The easy part is deciding what you want to do (i.e. "scrape all tweets with the word 'programming' in them). The hard part is deciding HOW to approach that problem. This can be thought of us "translation" - converting human thought into computer logic. The human brain and the CPU are inherently incompatible devices. The coder translates between the two by thinking like both.
I would say that TRANSLATION is the "coder's instinct" that is so important to what we do.
(c) CODING: The best code in the world is worth very little if no one can maintain it. The article you linked to summarizes good code very well for this purpose, I think.
Side note, CODING is why I have very little respect for certain people implicitly considered coding "idols" - reading their code is an exercise in futility. They're the only ones who can ever hope to really understand their own code, which is a mark of a poor coder.
(d) COMMUNICATION: It was Joel Spolsky who said that the ability to communicate is the single most important skill a coder can have, even more important than technical skills! I've found this to be true time and again.
A good communicator can engage in exchanges with other people that allow them to LEARN (a). They can understand human user needs, ask questions, and explain limitations as part of TRANSLATION (b). They can write, comment, and document god CODE (c).
A Word Of Caution: I have met coders who, while inexperienced and tripping along with shaky legs, aim for all four of these points. I would consider them GOOD CODERS, even in their inexperienced state. Indeed, one of these coders will accomplish far more than even a 20+ year veteran coder who lacks these skills.