The idea comes from jazz guitarist Pat Metheny's advice to "always be the worst guy in any band you're in," because you'll be surrounded by better players and will naturally play better and will learn along the way. When you're the best player in a band, you're less likely to learn from others. You can significantly improve or regress in skill, purely based on who you are performing with. If you're the best guy there, you need to be in a different band.

The same is true for software development. Just replace

• player/guy with programmer
• band with team/company

If you are the best programmer on the team, you need to be in a different team.