I'm an 18 year old developer. How do I become one of the best programmers ever?

I'd start there!

Even if this problem is non-technical/non-programming in nature -- by examining it in depth, it might very well lead into a set of related sub-problems where one or more of the sub-problems are technical/programming in nature!

Simple example from my own life: One "life goal" of "How do I make more money?" which is non-technical, non-programming in nature -- at one point in my life led to write software as a side-hustle.

This then (writing the software) became a sub-problem which was technical/programming in nature.

Start with your own life problems, technical or not. Break them down into sub-problems. One or more sub-problems will lead you down one or more technical/programming paths -- which in turn may lead you to more sub-sub problems!

If you love problem solving -- if you use this method -- you'll always have challenging and interesting problems in your life -- you'll never be bored!

That's because in solving one non-trivial problem -- you'll often encounter many more cross-domain sub-problems! When you encounter them, you'll need to learn more domain knowledge -- which is great motivation to study interesting and sometimes quite esoteric topics that you haven't studied before!

In other words, you'll keep learning, keep solving problems, and keep finding new problems to solve!

As far as how to best invest your time -- well, you'll figure it out!

In my understanding, each and every person on your list was passionate about solving some problem, extending their knowledge, sharing their learning with others. The recognition followed their contributions.

What about detection and treatment of various cancers; advancing the state of DNA techniques for better treatments, detection of diseases; new forms of energy storage, e.g. flow-batteries; assist conservation, e.g. detecting illegal deforestation and implementing rapid response; track and rescue endangered species; etc.

Being a good programmer is table stakes. It is your knowledge and work within a specialized domain that leads to incredible accomplishments.

Explore and enjoy the adventure.

Find a bite sized solution for something incredible but before you do, imagine ways in which it can make a return to your wallet.

Realize that these sorts of things take a very long time to discover but you will know exactly what it is when you find it if you know there is no alternative to it.

The vast majority of my interest led no where but one did lead and it was the discovery of a popular textbook written in the 1800s which happens to be popular today. I used the material for an app that was pretty successful for a number of years.

Self publishing is tricky.

Perhaps find something like a bread and butter throw together thing. It can be amazing that people have learned how to turn a server in their bedroom into a 2k per month source of cash. Then you will have total freedom to explore any avenue, no matter how unlikely it is to pull it off.

That just absolutely screams lack of experience.

If you think some software is lacking, then by all means knock yourself out and try to improve it.

If you're having issues with your 'development experience' then that's you, not the industry in general. Also development is not programming.

>I want to do incredible things. And those things don't need to include buzzwords. I want to solve big problems.

OK, do you want to solve big problems solely in/with/by programming/software -- or do you wish to engage in problem solving where Programming -- is only one of many domains used to solve problems (sort of like cross-domain problem solving, where the solution to a problem may include elements of software/programming -- but also elements from other fields, including (but not limited to!) such things as Psychology, Philosophy, Business Theory, Math, Physics, Engineering, etc.) ?

>I want to increase the quality of software in general

How?

>including the development experience.

What specifically don't you like about the development experience?

?

(Note: It's OK not to like aspects of software development -- each software developer has their own specific dislikes -- I only ask this question to get more information to help me figure out exactly what you're trying to do! If I can, then maybe I can help!)

All programmers are within an order of magnitude in ability and productivity anyway, so you can't be a "super duper smart 10x SWE".

Already, there's every indication that the OP is very capable of picking up new knowledge and technologies quickly, on their own. And HN being what it is, there will be plenty of specific domain knowledge from people who've done it longer, better, than I have (or ever could, really).

But how many of us were young and brilliant once, standing out in a sea of averages, starry-eyed with the whole world ahead of us, filled with unlimited potential... and little awareness of our limitations and fragility, present or future? Life experience is harder won than technical skills. We are, at the end of the day, still primates with deeply-rooted biological, social, physical, and emotional needs. Unless the OP manages to transform us all into the Borg.

OP, if you're reading this, just know that I'm rooting for you and hope to you see your name in the news (or repos, or credits) for years and decades to come. I said what I did only because I want that to remain the case well into your 30s, 40s, and beyond. Too many of us dev types start out eager and burn out early because of the stresses, ceilings, roller-coasters, limits, bureaucracies, whatever. If you browse the Ask HN section you'll find "Help, I'm burning out..." type posts with some frequency. Some change careers, others spiral into depression, etc. Maybe we should have our own version of the "27 Club".

Some people are lucky enough to be able to maintain a single laser focus through their entire lives, never deviating, never wanting anything more, and feeling empty when they're not doing that one thing. Maybe it's a personality thing, maybe a spectrum thing, maybe a genius thing, maybe all of the above and more... who knows? I'm not a brain scientist. But they're lucky, and relatively rare. It's not like that for most people.

For the rest of us, the pursuit of excellence -- however we might individually define it -- requires us to be able to, at a minimum, maintain a sufficient baseline of health and relationships so as to remain a "functional workaholic". Think of it as "devops for the mind and body". If you do just the bare minimum, which isn't much (a few hours a week, if that), you can wake up every day feeling rested and energized to do the work, avoid repetitive motion injuries or posture-related pains later in life, grow the networks you need to meet other people at the top of their game, have friends and colleagues to help you through hard times, etc.

And if you do more than the bare minimum, the network effects can compound and create a virtuous cycle. You might meet professionals in other fields working on hard problems but not seeing it through the eyes of a programmer: mathematicians, natural scientists, cartographers, rocket scientists, architects, musicians, artists, whatever. They can provide not just new problems to solve, but fresh perspectives that we don't see enough of in the dev world. Same thing if you develop more hobbies (drones can lead into photogrammetry and aeronautics, photography into sensors and machine vision, hiking into network graphs and GIS, dance into mocap and animation, whatever).

Then, when you become truly exceptional, you'll probably run into ecosystem limits created by your peers... not on purpose, but just because most of us are only slightly above average. For every John Carmack or Linus Torvalds or Ada Lovelace there are a million mediocre devs working on everyday projects. In the professional world, much of your own code will be surrounded or hamstrung by other people's mediocrity. When you reach that point, you can choose to improve it (which requires people skills to convince them to refactor and/or accept your PRs or let you onto...

Think of Joe Rogan, who arguably is the greatest in the world at getting smart people in the same room as him. He knows what he's good at and shares his knowledge, he keeps an open mind and curious character, and he always tries to stay polite and inviting. If you are looking for someone to model yourself after to meet more smart people, there are many worse choice than Joe Rogan.

It could of course also be = and not exlusively ≠. More context and discussion to pin down similarities and difference is case by case.

Maybe does not equal nescessity. Pf course you do do not need to get high to achieve success. Depending on your specific personality and ambition it may help loosen or untie mental “knots”. I do not endorse it as a general rule.

I am but an internet stranger surfing on evaporating bytes.