How do I become a top engineer/researcher?

I am a graduate student studying CS. I see a lot of students interns and full-time staff working at top companies/labs and wonder how they are so good at what they do with programming and research.

But here I am, struggling to figure out things in PyTorch while they seem to understand the technical details about everything and what methods to use. Everytime I see some architecture, I feel like I should be able to implement it to a great extent, but I can't. I can understand it, but being able to implement it or even simple things is a problem.

I was recently trying to recreate an architecture but didn't know how to do it. I was just having Gemini/ChatGPT guide me and that sometimes makes me feel like I know nothing. Like, how are engineers able to write code for a new architecture from scratch without any help from Gen AI. Maybe they have some help now; however, the time before GenAI became prevalent, researchers were writing code.

I am applying for ML/DL/CV/Robotics internships (I have prolly applied to almost 100 now) and haven't got anything. And frankly, I am just tired of applying because it seems like I am not good enough or something. I have tried every tip I have heard: optimize CV, reach out to recruiters, go to events, etc.

I don't think I am articulating my thoughts clearly enough but I hope you understand what I am attempting to describe.

Thanks. Looking to see your responses/advice.