I hear the complaint, “Those people are not as good.” That makes me wonder, “What's the basis of such statement? Is it true or false?”
It turns out a site will not necessarily be considered productive when the managers are satisfied. Engineers know that managers come and go, they are the one who stay for the long haul. For a site, like China ERI, to be successful, both the management and engineering ranks must agree that the site is productive. No, they must agree the people here are good.
Let's demythify this.
What makes good engineer?  May 26, 2005
What make you a better software engineer? This discipline is a strange mixture of engineering, science, and art. How can one excel?
From the manager's point of view, a good engineer delivers what was expected. A better engineer do more – faster, better, more thorough, more robust, better documented, etc. But the manager's main concern is the elimination of surprises, particularly the wrong kind. Less surprises, better engineer.
Your peer engineers view it entirely differently. Invariably, software guys size each other up and decide to admit each other into their cliques. Those elusive memberships may matter more than how your manager measure you.
First is the mastery of the tools. Engineers admire those who employ the more efficient and elegant ways to accomplish the tasks. Those who accomplished the tasks crudely don't get respect.
Mastery of development methodologies and processes are also respected, but somehow less.
Next is your elegance. This element of elegance manifests itself in many areas. Software, in many ways, resembles literature. It is created directly from the mind of the author. Elegance is in the nuances. Are characters named cleverly (variable names)? Are the word-choice most fitting and appropriately sophisticated (use the best operator for the expressions)? Can you prose with fewer words, but not less?
But most important is your creativity – the ability to be different and elegant at the same time. Are you a clerk who scribes in technical language, even masterfully, or an artist who create classic beauties for other to imitate? Creativity manifests itself in few common ways: new solution to an old problem, old solution applied to a new area, or new solution for something no one dealt with before. This separates good engineers from average ones.