That line between being cocky and humble

My introduction to this article, and the piece I personally found more interesting, was the response Casey Liss wrote. As I read both articles, I thought of something Patrick McKenzie said quite some time ago in Don’t Call Yourself a Programmer, and Other Career Advice: “You radically overestimate the average skill of the competition because of the crowd you hang around with.” While Patrick said that in reference to the perception of one’s own skill set, it is just as applicable here.