10x (engineer, context) pairs
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10x (engineer, context) pairs
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Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#2I feel like we discuss this once a week/month and it always breaks down to the same things bc of the number 10.
- Yes, some engs write code faster than others. 10x seems really high, so therefore 10x engs don't exist.
- Yes, some engs are more productive / pick better problems to solve / force multiply their teammates, but 10x seems pretty high, so 10x engs don't exist.
If we hadn't anchored on 10, we wouldn't be disputing that some people are more productive or faster, so I find proving or disproving the 10x eng to be pretty tired.
Good article though on the context for why some people are faster or more productive.
Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#3I have found the one distinction of 10x engineers is originality. They can write an original solution to a problem and be done. They don’t need a 1000 different tools to do their job for them, which has second and third order consequences.
That also means not having a petrified terror of failure.
Yes, there are 10x developers and this is measurable. It’s a progression of the Pareto Distribution. People scared shitless of originality, most people, cannot see this because their life goal is to crush it with internal processes.
Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#4Yeah, there are plenty of fake 10x engineers out there, or temporary 10x-ers who are only doing well because of their working environment.
But I have worked with a few people who were clear 10x engineers. Everything they worked on they did better and faster and cleaner. They could often solve problems that other skilled people couldn't even get started on. Yes, they usually picked important and impactful things to work on, but even when just assigned tasks from the grab bag of team tasks, they were still 10x faster.
Somehow these individuals were also 10x nicer too.
The only downside of working with them is going home and looking in the mirror and wondering why you can't match their pace. Oh well, I would trade the hit to my ego for getting to work in their codebase any day of the week.
Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#5it has to do with the organization to. As soon as they start with Jira and Scrum, your productivity goes down the drain.
Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#6There’s 10x in almost every profession, why is engineering different?
If you take physicists with Ph.D. plus 3 years of post-doc as the baseline, of course top physicists are 10x the baseline. And don't interpret the 10x in a superficial silly way which makes post-docs stronger than Einstein.
This goes the same in sports, arts, academics, etc. As long as the field has enough depth for growth, the top players can easily be 10x compare to the majority.
Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#7I feel like we discuss this once a week/month and it always breaks down to the same things bc of the number 10. - Yes, some engs write code faster than others. 10x seems really high, so therefore 10x engs don't exist. - Yes, some engs are more productive / pick better problems to solve / force multiply their teammates, but 10x seems pretty high, so 10x engs don't exist. If we hadn't anchored on 10, we wouldn't be dis…
Of course 10 can’t be interpreted in a superficial silly way, otherwise many postdocs can be considered as 10x Einstein.
Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#8They must exist. If IQ can range from 80 to 200 and IQ correlates with programming ability then of course there are engineers out there at the far end of the spectrum.
Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#9I never understood why this is controversial. I'd say the majority of engineers I've worked with have been 10x engineers.
Maybe I've just been incredibly lucky with the teams I've ended up on.
Re: 10x (engineer, context) pairs
#10Yeah, there are plenty of fake 10x engineers out there, or temporary 10x-ers who are only doing well because of their working environment. But I have worked with a few people who were clear 10x engineers. Everything they worked on they did better and faster and cleaner. They could often solve problems that other skilled people couldn't even get started on. Yes, they usually picked important and impactful things to wo…
My experience rings true with this. They are very few. In a single organization you may not ever meet one.
Another thing that sort of matches your experience is that they are 10x nicer. 10x engineers don't show off at all. They don't need to. What I've been finding is that engineers that think they're smart are probably smart, but they are NEVER 10xers.