What Makes a Great Software Engineer? [pdf]
I don't get the "9 to 5 wouldn't make you a great engineer" about not being passionate, some people are passionate but have other life obligations like kids or other activities.<p>Being personable: "Can I have a beer with this guy?" is the worse in my opinion.  I care about your professional skills and if you're communicating well, but you definitely don't have to be a beer buddy, we might have 15 years difference, a very different background and share very few topics in common over a beer (assuming you even drink beer) but you could still be a great engineer to work with.<p>Also you don't have to be a guy! The authors recognize that they only interview 5% women in the end...<p>So overall some good advice, but it has a huge sampling bias. therefore the definition of a "great software engineer" is only valid in certain circumstances.  For instance the authors recognize creativity is important, but one could argue some of the most creative engineers that can be found are the people who do another, very creative activity on the side (arts etc). These people would tend to be "9 to 5" because their "6 to 8" are already booked, so even if they appear less "passionate" they can be a huge asset to the team.