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Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

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Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#161
post #151

Imo you can't be a 10x+ developer without extracurricular activities. That is: writing books, academic papers, OSS contributions, GitHub projects with 100+ stars, blogging, conference talks, being in the top ~5% of Stack Overflow, etc. Merely "being good at your job" is just the baseline (and often not even an important one; rockstar engineers get fired often; Max Howell was famously not hired by Google; etc.). Not t…

Actually, I really enjoy what I do and my team. I just dislike the weird sense of responsibility.

Your perspective on extracurricular activities is interesting. I'm at the top 17% of Stack Overflow, does that count :)

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#162
>The worst part is I am sensing within myself this frustration that everyone else appears to move so slowly. The thought of "great, one more thing I got to fix" is coming up too frequently.

I see this as a point of opportunity for you because you have some part in this and just need to figure out what it is. Based on what you are saying, the key might be found somewhere between when you do what comes easy for you in terms of getting work done - and - doing what is very hard/unpleasant for you but would produce more work in others. You are exercising control with a high level of expertise and this could be exercised differently.

An example I could give is the case of a tech help forum I co-moderate. If I want more help from the community and to see increased participation with ideas and suggestions, I have to let the unanswered question just sit there. If another moderator takes it upon themselves to efficiently get things solved and jumps in and answers it, then others don't see a need.

I'm not sure how this translates, but it might mean that the next big challenge for you is found in choosing to NOT doing something rather than doing it. Like, being available to others during that time, rather than actually doing it, could be a strategic step. This would increase interaction, help you see the effort made by others regardless of their productivity, and man - we all benefit when someone competent is not constantly busy. I love asking questions but hate to interrupt others. Open office hours the way professors do it, or something like that.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#163
As someone far younger than you, yet at times infinitely jaded, through what have >0% odds of being at least related circumstance:

If you haven’t come across DFWs This is Water, I’d highly recommend you give it a sincere listen: https://youtu.be/PhhC_N6Bm_s

What is your goal? Have to make hay while the sun shines, if you perform so we’ll see if you can find another opportunity to realize that gap you’re in? If that’s not fruitful, try and try again and at the end of the day, find resolve in knowing you’re doing what you can and, while you have that going wrt opportunities, give your thoughts and time to things around you that do inspire you and provide some degree of fulfillment. As someone in the field as a moderately tenured, and currently unemployed, “software engineer”: it is hard to unplug but god is it so necessary for being present and being able to see what else is going on you can nurture&enjoy. I’m a bit scared, given the macro picture rn, about being unemployed. But, at the end of the day, we are all in this ocean of chaos with 86400 seconds to allocate everyday however we choose. Bit of a lengthy rant, but feels good to capture some thoughts I’ve been having honestly, and hope you are most excellent!!! At least it’s almost the weekend haha.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#164

You're not a 10x engineer. You're a 2x who hasn't figured out yet how to teach other engineers what you know. It sounds like it's past time you got started, for your own sake as much as that of those around you.

I actually try to help others. Though I admit that I should be doing it more.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#165
> In my direct team of 10 people, myself included, I have completed 71% of all story points in 2022, the other 9 are responsible for the other 29%

This just sounds like another example of Price’s Law. Seems like you’ve climbed the ladder of competency at your organization, and now there’s nowhere else to go.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Garry Tan:

“At every job you should either learn or earn. Either is fine. Both is best. But if it's neither, quit” [1]

Sounds like you might need more on the side of learning here. Good luck.

[1] https://mobile.twitter.com/garrytan/status/13776619701789736...

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#166
Sounds like you need a more challenging project. However its a red flag to me if you write 80% of the code. Do you really need to write so much code? I worked with a prolific developer and instead of doing things simply he always wrote another dozen classes. The whole thing was over-engineered because this guy was always adding an extra layer of complexity, it was so hard to understand - the only guy who understood it was you know who. Make sure you're not that guy.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#167
I'm not a great developer but I can pretty much do everything that is needed and I noticed the pattern in my career that I tend to drift towards messiest, hardest, least flashy jobs because I'm the one who can find his way around there. And I tend to be left alone in those jobs as others move to greener pastures. I'm left on some stale but key project as lonely one man army. The way to get out is to switch an employer.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, it doesn't help at all. Move to SV and you'll understand.

I looked at it early on, right when I was starting out. That was a little before the dotcom crash, enough that only the really smart people were starting to think it was coming. Everything there looked amazing, and everyone I knew there was miserable every day, and I couldn't spend all my time in the Castro. So I took a powder and ended up in Baltimore. I wasn't sure I'd made the right call till a few years later, wh…

Who's gratifying his ego now?

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#169

You're not a 10x engineer. You're a 2x who hasn't figured out yet how to teach other engineers what you know. It sounds like it's past time you got started, for your own sake as much as that of those around you.

> You're not a 10x engineer. You're a 2x

That's not a fair characterization. Did you read his post? He said,

> In my direct team of 10 people, myself included, I have completed 71% of all story points in 2022

So on average, the other team members complete about 3.2% of the work, and he does 71%. At least in relation to his team, he's ~20x in output.

Re: Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer

#170

If you are a truly a 10X developer(TM pending) and this is not one of those copy-paste kids love these days, you could found your own company or consulting agency.With the huge competitive advantage you have (probably unique in the world ) : a 10-men-strength worth development capability that only have to maintain 1 family. If mere mortals have founded companies solo or in pairs, imagine what you could do with 5-10X…

A 10x difference in productivity between super efficient developers and shitty ones isn't as rare as you think.

Probably, who knows? But a "shitty" developer is not "1X"
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