Live data from Hacker News

1x Programming

tim.mcnamara.nz

41–50 of 217 posts

Re: 1x Programming

#41
Something that came up recenty for me. I took a job at FAANG company and my productivity from my POV sucks! I doubt I've written more than 2k lines of code in 9 months! I'm debugging hardware/driver issues in a giant code base (~250k files) that I don't know and APIs I've not used before.

Conversely, in my own hobby code I wrote ~2k lines in the last 10 days.

It makes me wonder how often 10x is about circumstance vs programmer skill

Re: 1x Programming

#42
I agree with almost everything here, but the essay is all over the place: it starts by trying to convince the reader that it's ok to be a 1x programmer and then proceeds to give pointers on how to write simpler code and how to work better on teams (which are different topics and skills that many 10xers possess)

Re: 1x Programming

#43

I praise 1x programmers, but for reasons that might go against the grain in HN. I'm from Spain so our working ethic is different from the Anglo-Saxon world. "Work to live, don't live to work" as the saying goes. My principles for a 1x programmer: * Work is a means to an end. A job should support the lifestyle you want to achieve, not be an end on itself. * 9-to-5 is a perfectly reasonable schedule. Fiercely protects…

The principle behind being a 10x programmer is not working more, but working less and using tools that multiply you.

The 10x dominates the tools ( and techniques and people and capital) that multiply her.

If you have a car you can easily and consistently go 10x faster that walking pace. The same applies for your job.

Working on a given company, with access to capital and people and tools can multiply you.

Re: 1x Programming

#45

I praise 1x programmers, but for reasons that might go against the grain in HN. I'm from Spain so our working ethic is different from the Anglo-Saxon world. "Work to live, don't live to work" as the saying goes. My principles for a 1x programmer: * Work is a means to an end. A job should support the lifestyle you want to achieve, not be an end on itself. * 9-to-5 is a perfectly reasonable schedule. Fiercely protects…

I mostly agree with this list, I’d just like to add a caveat that working on a side-project can be a hobby!

I have some DnD-related campaign ideas that won’t work in DnD, so I’m trying my hand at making them a pixelart game. Definitely a hobby and creative outlet!

OTOH, I’m also trying to write a database implementation in modern C++. While fun, it also mostly serves as a “look me smart” for future job applications because I’d love for my job to be a bit more in depth.

I think it’s important to acknowledge the differences!

Re: 1x Programming

#46

I praise 1x programmers, but for reasons that might go against the grain in HN. I'm from Spain so our working ethic is different from the Anglo-Saxon world. "Work to live, don't live to work" as the saying goes. My principles for a 1x programmer: * Work is a means to an end. A job should support the lifestyle you want to achieve, not be an end on itself. * 9-to-5 is a perfectly reasonable schedule. Fiercely protects…

The principle behind being a 10x programmer is not working more, but working less and using tools that multiply you. The 10x dominates the tools ( and techniques and people and capital) that multiply her. If you have a car you can easily and consistently go 10x faster that walking pace. The same applies for your job. Working on a given company, with access to capital and people and tools can multiply you.

10x is about the meta, and meta can be the tools (or frameworks, metaprogramming, etc.).

Re: 1x Programming

#47

I praise 1x programmers, but for reasons that might go against the grain in HN. I'm from Spain so our working ethic is different from the Anglo-Saxon world. "Work to live, don't live to work" as the saying goes. My principles for a 1x programmer: * Work is a means to an end. A job should support the lifestyle you want to achieve, not be an end on itself. * 9-to-5 is a perfectly reasonable schedule. Fiercely protects…

I'm from Italy, very similar country, very similar work ethic.

I agree that, if anything, it's people like me who are weirdly obsessive about their jobs to be the odd ones out.

I have a couple drifts about that, though:

- I spend 40+ hours a week in front of a terminal. That is a lot of time. Trying to do a good job and finding interest in what I do is at least in part a self-defense mechanism: if I'm invested in what I do, I'm more likely to be happy at work and have positive relations with coworkers.

- It mustn't become a way to fend off productive change. Refusing new good practices "because we don't want to learn" or "because it's good enough as it is" is incredibly stupid and self-destructive. Unfortunately, there's overlap between "it's just a job" and "different = bad" attitudes.

It's certainly okay if one is just in for the money, it's none of my business to investigate people's motivations. But if you want to do this job for the rest of your life, 35 years times 48 weeks a year times 40 hours a week is a lot of time, so it's not an attitude I'd necessarily encourage.

Re: 1x Programming

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The principle behind being a 10x programmer is not working more, but working less and using tools that multiply you. The 10x dominates the tools ( and techniques and people and capital) that multiply her. If you have a car you can easily and consistently go 10x faster that walking pace. The same applies for your job. Working on a given company, with access to capital and people and tools can multiply you.

10x is about the meta, and meta can be the tools (or frameworks, metaprogramming, etc.).

Or good judgement and focus.

Re: 1x Programming

#49
To me this seems like an alternate description of how one trends towards increased effectiveness in programming. I've known 10x programmers that will put the entire team in a position of reacting to that one person's work so that rather than scaling it actually reduces to total productivity. This person was unfortunately trying to build a business.

Re: 1x Programming

#50
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doubled productivity… 10x… Since we’re putting numbers on things, how did we go from 2x to 10x?

I think they mean by helping 8 people double productivity they achieved at least 10x maybe 16x I suppose you could also be 10x everyone else you work with by deliberately sabotaging the rest of your team...

If 8 people double their productivity then they'd be 256x. Talk about impact!
Post reply on HN