Well one, don't look up to people you personally don't know. Parasocial relationships are not healthy. Look into your local community for people to be mentors or help you.

That said I like Bryan Cantrill as an engineer and leader, but I would never put him on a pedestal.

It's best to avoid idolizing folks. It can give you a skewed set of expectations and lead you to resent them when inevitably they cannot live up those those expectations (which is unfair to them), and possibly lower your own self esteem if you cannot meet those same standards yourself.

Tip that will work forever, even when the ones you replace your old idols with get replaced: Don't have any idols.

Listen to the words, don't follow "personalities", don't listen to specific individuals just because of their status. Not a single time have I been disappointed by an idol, because I've made the conscious choice of not having following any. Bunch of smart people say smart stuff all the time, until they don't. I read everything as if I don't know the author, I think more people should do this and less celebrity worship would make the entire ecosystem better. We need less of it, not more.

I've seen Bryan Cantrill present at a few conferences and his talks are always the best.

Is Jessie Frazelle still there? She is very impressive.

Bryan Cantrill