Many agreeable points made, but if I had one thing to disagree on, it would be about writing code everyday. That is a good way to get experience, but after a while, you’ll find that it’s okay to take a day, or as much time as you need, to strategize on non-trivial code you’re going to write. Especially when building foundational pieces that will still be maintainable in 5-10 years.

It also depends on what constitutes as “writing code”. Does throwaway code count? In spiking or in R & D it’s less about writing code and more about figuring out what is technically feasible given the current circumstances. Code written during this time may never land in the production codebase.

Lastly, I also find that writing developer-level documentation can be just as much a contribution to your company as writing the code, and you can’t do that without taking a short break from writing code.

I’d argue that “not good” programmers also write code everyday.