After having watched this video I have to ask how a programmer can go about measuring themselves against other, better programmers much as a chess player would.How would you decide who is a role model to start with? I mean James Gosling is known by every Java programmer but he invented the language and there is almost certainly an expert out there  who could show him a few tricks.Now say you have you found that role model. This could be, say, StackOverflow's own superstar Jon Skeet. It's possible to read his answers on StackExchange, visit his blog and read his books but what about actual programming skill? How could you go about fixing challenges and determining where you are in the programming skill spectrum?
Scaling yourself up against a better programmer/role model?
self improvement
The more pertinent question is why?:Stop measuring yourself to others.  Go solve problems, everything else just becomes a side effect :)