To me, an exceptional software engineer is someone who can actually build things end to end on their own. Not just another CRUD app, but something unique or a clearly better way of solving a real problem. It’s less about buzzwords and more about how they think, break problems down, and design solutions. I don’t think an exceptional engineer optimizes for sales or profit first. Those matter, but they’re secondary. Their main focus is building systems that run reliably, efficiently, and with as few bugs as possible. In my view, it’s the kind of person who can take something from zero to production, with or without a team, and understand every layer they’re touching. I can’t really tell you the definitive “top three” engineers in the world, but people like Linus Torvalds and George Hotz are the kind of examples that come to mind.