The programming community has a concept called "10x". This concept is somewhat controversial. Allegedly, some programmers are ten times more productive than others.
I say "allegedly" because the quantitative part of the claim can't be backed up.There's no universal, objective metric on which all programmers can be compared.
Many metrics exist, but they all have limitations. People used to talk about lines of code (LOC). Bill Gates had a sick burn for that one: "Measuring programming by LOC is like measuring airplanes based on weight." There's bug density, the number of bugs per LOC. Bugs can be distorted by those skilled at social manipulation (if I add some code, and that change exposes an unhandled case in lines you wrote, whose "fault" is it?). Agile has a concept called velocity, but it can't be compared across teams. And so forth.
I'm not claiming the concept is invalid. Everyone who's worked in the industry for a while has a "short list" of people they'd really like to work with again.
These are the 10xers. They're just not measurable quantitatively.
Sometimes 10xers are consensus builders and obstacle removers. They attend necessary meetings with the business management while other team members are cranking out LOCs. Sometimes they're mentors and cheerleaders, helping junior devs solve frustrating problems elegantly.
The people on my short list have a few things in common. They're focused on producing results, rather than getting credit or assigning blame. They practice intellectual humility – they know good ideas come from anywhere, so they treat everyone with respect regardless of their status. They share, because they know a rising tide lifts all boats. They value clarity and rigor above all else.
They're not necessarily technical prodigies. They have to know enough to Get Things Done, and they have to have a passion for learning and improving. Blazing technical skill is not a guarantee of 10x though. "Brilliant jerks" can be negative-xers: their toxic tendencies poison a team's code at a greater rate than if they weren't there.
There's a short way to say all this: programming is an art more than a science. 10x programmers practice their art with ten times the love.
You'll never be a truly great programmer without love in your heart.