The more a company attempts to define what a "good software engineer" is, the worse their hiring practices will become as they come to believe they can identify and select for "good software engineers".

As the author says after articulating a long list of traits of a first class developer; "I strongly believe all that I’ve mentioned is a basic expectation from any engineer."

Folks, apply for jobs where the employer is pragmatic about hiring and gets people employed and gets on with the job.