I find this a bit of a moot point. Could Bill Gates really code? Yea, probably. Does it really matter? Not that much as we like to believe.
Right time, right place, right people on the team and whatever other circumstances you might want to describe as "luck" play a much bigger role than people like to admit because it would diminish their own accomplishments.
Also his and Microsoft's success has less to do with how much and how great Mr Gates can code; just think of Steve Jobs and many others. Good techs don't necessarily make for successful CEOs - quite the opposite is just as plausible if not likely considering how techs typically detest politics.
“Right time, right place, right people on the team and whatever other circumstances you might want to describe as "luck" play a much bigger role than people like to admit because it would diminish their own accomplishments.”
True, but equally true is that initiative, experience, domain knowledge, persistence and hard work play a much bigger role in outsized success than most people would like to admit because it would diminish their own accomplishments.
I think coding at this level -- successfully; well -- reflects a kind of relentlessness that was essential.
Gates had other qualities that contributed to Microsoft's success: The desire and ability to focus on getting people to do things and on business, etc.
But his coding work demonstrates a focus, an intensity and persistence, that was instrumental.
I'm not particularly fond of some of his and Microsoft's business techniques. But he damned well executed them, relentlessly. As I see it (from afar), he was, is never one for half measures -- not with regard to his true interests.
And he came at the right time to the right place - with an operating system for a new platform that would prove to be more widespread than all platforms before.
Right time, right place, right people on the team and whatever other circumstances you might want to describe as "luck" play a much bigger role than people like to admit because it would diminish their own accomplishments.
Also his and Microsoft's success has less to do with how much and how great Mr Gates can code; just think of Steve Jobs and many others. Good techs don't necessarily make for successful CEOs - quite the opposite is just as plausible if not likely considering how techs typically detest politics.