In my experience, it's possible to identify these people early career, set up their environment to help them excel, and help them 10x. Actually hire a 10x off the street? Pretty damn hard
Busting the 10x software engineer myth
191–200 of 356 posts
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is that you can't measure a developer. So you can't say someone is 10x faster or better. If you add a bench-mark like how many LOC is written per day, most will exceed at that benchmark, but the overall quality will go down.
You can't "measure" a session musician either. And yet some of them take hundreds of dollars an hour to be there for a recording, so clearly there is a way to know
We are exposed to music so much that even someone who don't know how to play an instrument can tell the difference. So the average Joe can tell the difference in for example talent shows. Now imagine a talent show with programmers/developers, we kinda have that already with hackatons, but then it becomes more about the presentation, the actual code - if any code exist at all - is an absolute "hack".
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#193Whether or not some people in a given field are 10x more knowledgeable or productive than others is a question that can be answered.
Whether trying to find 10x programmers is a good HR strategy is a separate question.
This article is just a stream of consciousness brain dump, which I guess proves that 1/10x clickbait authors exist.
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#194My biggest problem with 10x is that I see it applied prescriptively not descriptively. If it's just describing some fact about someone's output then fine. If you've got the data to backup your 10x trophy then good for you but I don't want to hear some shit about someone being a 10x developer because someone else said they were.
You also don't get to be a 10x developer by kneecapping everyone around you.
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#195As I get older, and maybe because I worked at a company whose product is “talent optimization”, I think a lot of the “10x” thing is just a function engagement and passion. That is to say it’s not entirely skill or “intelligence”. You could take the best programmer but if you point them at a project they don’t give a crap about they’ll phone it in. Point them at something they’re passionate about and they’ll have absurd impact. They’ll think of more novel solutions, test and refine those solutions, and crank out the whole thing in record time.
If you want a 10x engineer, give them work they love.
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#196I know "10x engineers" exist; some people are fakes and put forward things that look like they have high impact but are actually a bit shoddy. Some people like to be present and suck up. But some people really do just work hard, smart and have deep passion for what they're doing- and importantly: pride, which makes the quality of the content great too. Some of the best engineers I know "visit" bits of code or infrast…
On the flipside, I've met "10x engineers" who always prioritized working on highly visible and strategic new features, and excelled at shipping them as fast as possible, even if it meant racking up massive technical debt. By doing this, they effectively did produce 10x as much in the eyes of management, and got promoted and rewarded in kind. The technical debt they racked up then got paid by everyone else that had to…
On the plus side, the company shipped something. In a startup time to market is important. Especially in a startup.
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#197This article is pure clickbait written to sell in this stupid Swarmia startup. :) 10x developers exist just like 10x musicians, 10x marathon runners, or 10x chess players exist. It may take a world-class musician a week to write a masterful symphony but it would take me way longer. Perhaps I'd never produce anything great so that musician would be infinitely better at it than me. Great chess players beat amateurs at…
The reality is you DO have 10x devs, hell you have infinity-x devs, because there are zero value devs - epitomized by the bullshit promoted by stupid start-ups like Swarmia, and next to that, by basic mathematics, anything positive represents a infinity-x improvement.
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
I totally agree, but I think you can use examples closer to home. Carmack could build a video games which is 100x across a number of metrics (quality, cost, time to deliver) than I could. Still too far? Pick your field, there'll be experts. You can get even closer to home. After 20 year, I really feel like I'm at least 10x developer across a number of metrics (e.g., value to my employer, amount of complexity I can ma…
> Carmack could build a video games which is 100x across a number of metrics But even Carmack couldn't crack Steve Jobs stubbornness. Sometimes being 10x is only a matter of being free to help the best you can. EDIT: where Carmack shows that he is well above average is not in coding, but in being extremely pragmatic and thous being able to extract good, almost unbiased, information out of every discussion, even the m…
> But even Carmack couldn't crack Steve Jobs stubbornness.
I honestly don't understand how this is relevant.
Carmack is 10x in coding and designing software. Jobs was 10x in PR and persuasion.
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#199The fact that this is constantly debated is sad. I've run numerous tests across various organisations. When measured it becomes evident that 10x is nothing strange.
Set some real world useful target. Give the task to individuals or small teams and let them go at it, with regular followup. Measure time, defects, maintainability, whatnot. Perhaps add some real world change of requirements mid stream? I've seen solutions ranging from hours to never.
What I see, and find very sad, is that most organisations have obstinately obtuse attitudes and handling of such simple analysis.
It doesn't matter if the variance stems from intelligence, creativity, work pattern, experience, clever tricks, tools, processes, etc, etc. If it's faster/better then find out why, and learn from it. Can it be taught to others? Change work processes? Hire differently? ???
Whatever works. But ffs: measure, analyse, learn, embrace.
Re: Busting the 10x software engineer myth
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
Abstractly it's nice to know. But practically does it really matter? Even if we knew the case, one can't just e.g. whip 0.4x into 1x, so a 2x remains a very valuable 2/0.4 jump.
> Even if we knew the case, one can't just e.g. whip 0.4x into 1x, so a 2x remains a very valuable 2/0.4 jump. This is pure speculation, which is why actual data would be useful. Is a measured 0.4x performer that way for innate reasons or is that something which some combination of training and mentoring, better tools, streamlined environments, etc. can help with? — or is the way that's measured even valid? I've seen…
>Is a measured 0.4x performer that way for innate reasons or is that something which some combination of training and mentoring, better tools, streamlined environments, etc. can help with?
For this or that individual (as per your example of "a few cases"), maybe.
For the majority do you think there will be something that hasn't been tried until now, what with all 2000 methodologies of management, team structure, company culture, development methodologies, tooling, agile, waterfall, and what have you, that will suddenly make a difference?