In my recent blog posting "The Secrets to Becoming a Great Programmer" I discuss a couple of characteristics of great programmers. You can read about those characteristics at
The Secrets to Becoming a Great Programmer
What other characteristics make a programmer great? Do you agree with my assessment?
Lovely discussion!
It's so important to recognise that what makes a good programmer and what makes a good software engineer are very different. I know individuals who are incredibly talented programmers but just don't get the "engineering" thing at all; conversely, I know excellent engineers who can't write code for toffee (hope that's not too UK-centric a phrase but I'm sure you can work out what it means!)
A really good "software engineer" combines both.