This would be more meaningful if we knew what you think makes a rockstar engineer.
Some people value extreme speed.
Others are impressed by somebody who will dive down a rabbit hole and follow however deep it leads, discovering the linker bug or kernel driver interaction that causes a failure, and patching it.
Or maybe you are impressed that they go away for a month, talking to nobody, and come back with a complete system all ready to ship.
Or they write libraries that everybody uses because they are so exactly what people need.
Or they are always available to explain things to junior people and get them going in the right direction.
Each of those would be unusually valuable, at some places, and would have trouble getting any recognition, at others.
Some people value extreme speed.
Others are impressed by somebody who will dive down a rabbit hole and follow however deep it leads, discovering the linker bug or kernel driver interaction that causes a failure, and patching it.
Or maybe you are impressed that they go away for a month, talking to nobody, and come back with a complete system all ready to ship.
Or they write libraries that everybody uses because they are so exactly what people need.
Or they are always available to explain things to junior people and get them going in the right direction.
Each of those would be unusually valuable, at some places, and would have trouble getting any recognition, at others.