Earlier quoted context omitted.
So to be clear, the myth of the 10x programmer is the person that learns Japanese when you start working with Japan as a market, sits around a lot talking about various types of teas, has an eidetic memory, has 3 months to write a major new service, and just thinks about it for like 2.5 months then comes in and types it in, in 30 hours. Not some well meaning person that makes up for a lack of skill by longer hours. T…
My understanding of 10x was basically a programmer who is 10x more productive than the average. I assumed the myth was dependent on the output, not necessarily the process...
If we accept it was a myth based on reality, the people that came closest to being that way were often more creative mad genuises that would have incredibly productive months or seasons, and within that top days or weeks, and then more ordinary times. Not plodding out 1 Kloc a day by just bearing down more but sitting around and joking and chatting about stuff then making some blazing new cathedral of technology that changed the game for all the programmers. I am thinking of the hyper growth days at AOL, so take it as one story.