Ask HN: Essential skill needed to be a programmer?

For me, this is the attitude that there is always something wrong with the code, there are always errors, and it's a question of whether I've found enough errors so the program is sufficiently reliable.

But, I don't think this is the main skill in programming. Good programming is the iterative application of concision and honesty, tempered by the ability to interrupt overfocus so as to find the right balance between perfection and getting something done.

In order to be successful programmer you need a lot persistence and patience. Plus having a long term vision is a must

I'm not sure if this really qualifies a skill. How do you improve it?

I'm an outside consultant and I'm often called to fix stuff that other outside consultants built. Pretty much 100% of the time, I am there because somebody was lacking in attention to detail. Whether it is a misplaced semicolon or a 100mbit interface in a virtual switch or some doodad doing a TCP handshake in the wrong order, I think over half of the 'edge cases' that make it to me are because somebody did not cross their Is and dot their Ts.

I think that good attention to detail is essential not just in programming or systems, but every technical profession.

Building on Peter's answer, I've always strived for three things: Better, Faster, Cheaper.

Better: I try to build things that are sturdier, more beautiful, and solves the problem better.

Faster: Each time I build something, it has to be done faster. Code is faster to read, modify, replicate. Code functions more predictably and is quicker to debug.

Cheaper: I'll keep charging more, but it will cost less. A fresh graduate might do the same for $2000/month, 3 months. I try to get it done in $9000/month, 10 days. Part of this is not spending too much time on something that might be scrapped later, knowing when to plan ahead and when not to.

The essential skills are not really math or writing. Some of it is raw technical ability - know when and how to use reactive programming, declarative, imperative, and so on. Sometimes it's leadership, speaking up when you're stuck or something looks pointless. Sometimes it's just knowing how to learn and unlearn, and how to filter out the golden bits of knowledge from the sea of useless, self-promoting articles and books out there. And it seems trivial, but one of the skills that lets you do all three is knowing how to type 20 WPMs faster and use keyboard shortcuts.