Some ok takes here and some weird ones. I understand this is supposed to be a simply written article but I think "clean" and "messy" are way too reductive in this type of discussion without more context.
While I do think many good developers are passionate, it does not take passion to adhere to good practices. I don't expect a bridge designer to be passionate about bridges, I expect them to follow best practices and a good bridge will follow.
Accurate estimates are only possible when tasks are well defined and well scoped. A bad developer will still give you an estimate on a nebulous task, a good developer will tell you there needs to be more investigation.
All code will have bugs, a good developer isn't someone who never makes bugs. This is why testable code is important.
Most of the “qualities of a bad developer” are imposed by their management.
Oooh. I know this one. Testing their code rather than chucking it over the fence and crossing their fingers. Of course that's management's fault.
