Comment by nadam

"being capable of quickly shifting registers from the large picture to small details and back again — relies on the strong memory" Something like that, yes. Just huge memory and fast processor. And unfortunatelly it is just talent, after 10-15 years in the profession you will see your limits: your programing skills can be developed further and further to be very good, but it cannot be developed to be really great. I am a good programmer, but not a great one. When I was young, I thought I am great (winning some small math competitions when I was a child helped to develop this false belief), but now I know I am just good: I don't have that incredible brain power (memory + speed). But I am not depressed: being good is also fun, and anyway programming is not my identity: my identity is more a combination of software product design + programming.