I’ve noticed clients recoil at the phrase “Rockstar Developers”. The image of a drink, drugs and - gulp - sex-crazed development team smashing up their dressing room is problematic for many reasons. I kind of recoil from it too. It’s yucky. Nevertheless, ReadWriteWeb has published a list of the ‘Top Ten Traits of the Rockstar Software Engineer‘. It makes fascinating reading, especially if you work closely with one. The official list goes up to 10, but I’ve added a few of my own, and shuffled. See if you can guess which ones are true. Please feel free to suggest some yourself.

1. Loves To Code
2. Gets Things Done
3. Is Rubbish At Table Footie
4. Continuously Refactors Code
5. Uses Design Patterns
6. Wants To Be a Creative
7. Writes Tests
8. Wears Black T-Shirt 
   
9. Has Hairy Arse
10. Leverages Existing Code
11. Collects Something
12. Focuses on Usability
13. Writes Maintainable Code
14. Reads 52 Books Per Year
15. Can Code in Any Language
16. Knows Basic Computer Science
17. Follows Alternative Fashion System

Here’s a reminder of what we’re up against.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE