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Most people will never run a 5 minute mile either (the author's analogy, not mine).

I was all ready to comment about how it wasn't a very fair comparison, but then I thought about it more and realized that I actually do agree with the analogy. My belief (and I realize this is probably a minority opinion) is that most people can never be great developers - it requires some combination of hard work and just "getting it".

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"Getting it" is usually the result of hard work in most cases.

I'm talking about something different.

There are many people for whom a lifetime of hard work will not result in a 5 minute mile, and there are many people for whom a lifetime of hard work will not result in being a great programmer.

I know this is an unpopular viewpoint, but it's what I believe. And I have spent many years both running and programming. I am really good at both those things, but neither Ryan Hall good at running, nor John Carmack good at programming.

Perhaps because you do both, ya? I bet if you only programmed you could be John Carmack good at programming and John Carmack good at running.

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