I don’t have raw engineering supremacy like Carmack or Jim Keller. I make up for this through sheer effort, and so far it has worked out. On top of skill, there are some non-obvious qualities that I’ve determined make for a good engineer.

  • A good engineer doesn’t care whether his work is directly responsible for the state of the product, so long as the product is in a good state
  • A good engineer is confident enough to know when to reduce scope, yet daring enough to attempt the impossible
  • A good engineer has a great sense of time. They understand how much time their craft takes, and act appropriately.
  • A good engineer has a very strong mental debugger.
  • A good engineer measures once and cuts once.