tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post8716458741587159889..comments2023-05-29T06:32:41.512-07:00Comments on Don't Panic: The 10x developer is NOT a mythAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05910139481183591638noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-52749890912753768222015-02-02T00:22:16.040-08:002015-02-02T00:22:16.040-08:00That's a really good point . People should be ...That's a really good point . People should be talking about 10x workplaces and employers and technologies.manthraxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11262642310898294688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-70762070214516813502015-02-02T00:20:37.388-08:002015-02-02T00:20:37.388-08:00That's a really good point . People should be ...That's a really good point . People should be talking about 10x workplaces and employers and technologies.manthraxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11262642310898294688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-16952341573832537032015-01-15T20:49:19.193-08:002015-01-15T20:49:19.193-08:00This post uses athletes as an example of a domain ...This post uses athletes as an example of a domain where there are "rockstars", but I have never seen an exceptional athlete that performs 10x better than the "norm".<br /><br />The only sane comments have really been about the threshold for solving a problem. Some problems are too complex to be solvable by average skills. In those cases, a more capable developer may have more than a 10x return.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09494436686417656211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-24618687056079749332015-01-13T09:21:59.726-08:002015-01-13T09:21:59.726-08:00Programmers are engineers. Not all engineers are e...Programmers are engineers. Not all engineers are equal. Writing good code is 70% planning and consideration and 30% execution. That 70% saves you a lot of time. Junior or average programmers start by writing code and sometimes write so much of it that had they considered or planned a bit more they would have solved the problem with less code and in far less time. It doesn't pay to be a rock star and I'm not sure I'm a 10x coder but I have seen that I can produce far faster than is required by most jobs. I have had a manager tell me to 'slow down' because I didn't need to impress anybody. If you have been programming for many years and exposed yourself to many different challenges you naturally become inclined toward solving problems quickly, drawing parellels between past situations, and doing it all with the least amount of code and in the most readable way possible (if you aren't an ass). That noted, sometimes I'm an ass... lolWill Bridgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11918117304118130624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-67610865843086847302015-01-12T07:12:41.786-08:002015-01-12T07:12:41.786-08:00Swell. I wish people would stop talking about 10x...Swell. I wish people would stop talking about 10x programmers, for a couple of reasons:<br /><br />1) It's becoming another buzzword that PHBs and recruiters can latch onto without really understanding it. Soon they'll want proof that you're a 10x programmer before they'll talk to you; consequently, the whiners complain about a lack of talent (which is bull) even more.<br /><br />2) Most programmers are probably already doing the work of 3 people. We don't need PHBs deciding that their best coder is a 10x and therefore can do the work of 10 people. The result? Terrible, terrible, bug-riddled, nonmaintainable, no good, very bad code. There's enough of that in the world already.Zach Burnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05039734242665111615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-83767501548320261342014-11-25T10:47:12.803-08:002014-11-25T10:47:12.803-08:001. There is only one way to be very good at what y...1. There is only one way to be very good at what you do, and that's improving all the time. If you care about doing it better, go back on what you know you aced to find out if you could've done it even better, spend your own time on thinking how to solve a tricky abstraction problem, etc. Then you will inevitably become a 10x (or more) programmer.<br /><br />2. The comparison is not between idiots and awesomes, it's at least 10x between average and awesome, in every single discipline I've seen. The level of a world champion of SC2 is at least ten times better than that of your average grandmaster (top 0.2%) league player, and that guy is still at least a hundred times better than your average SC2 player. Not all of that translates into tangible business outcomes of course. On another more well known case, somebody with an IQ of 140 can solve problems people with an IQ of 130 can't solve at all, and they can solve the same problems twice as fast or more. In any measurable scenario, the exceptional people do a lot better than 10x the average.<br /><br />3. Engineers generally get shafted because stupid managers do not want to deal with 10x types, they prefer dealing with 10 replaceable idiots. There are no star engineers, and I haven't seen any evidence of an exceptional developer ever getting significant spotlight.<br /><br />4. With regards to statistical distribution, I believe there's a huge gap with strictly nobody between the average+ level and the awesome- level, simply because you can't stay average if you really care about improvement, whereas you simply can't become awesome if you don't. I know quite a few exceptional workers who do deliver 10x more than their colleagues / industry average, so they may not be that rare (although less than 1% is very likely), what is almost guaranteed however is that they will stop caring about their job because nobody actually recognizes or pays for that 10x productivity.<br /><br />5. 10x is an understatement. I've done alone in a few months what whole teams can't do in years. And I do it all the time. And I'm not talking about your expert java dev team from india, I'm talking people like google or microsoft, who try to get average+ people on board.<br />L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13854830988737781320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-50047592586561629502014-11-17T09:55:25.922-08:002014-11-17T09:55:25.922-08:00Love the Sherlock Holmes reference!Love the Sherlock Holmes reference!tonytopperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07440209610736188305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-90106799909184340012014-09-03T03:10:09.065-07:002014-09-03T03:10:09.065-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.21st Century Software Solutionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03192223264030252287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-87206500870271996632014-03-25T04:03:23.487-07:002014-03-25T04:03:23.487-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Allanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14752305719259566585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-78590492971308291562014-02-19T08:03:19.054-08:002014-02-19T08:03:19.054-08:00Here is Gabe Newell discussing his most productive...Here is Gabe Newell discussing his most productive developer... this guy seems to blow the 10x developer out of the water.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td_PGkfIdIQ#t=696<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01932895468755364583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-85000250151113187022014-02-13T13:51:50.693-08:002014-02-13T13:51:50.693-08:00Okay, this might seem a bit mercenary, but hear me...Okay, this might seem a bit mercenary, but hear me out, and please help.<br /><br />I'm not a recruiter, I'm a scientist. But, still, I've got to find people, and in the past, I've done it better than any recruiter I've known- so I keep doing it while my project requires it.<br /><br />I'm working on a stealth, well-funded biotech startup that is doing something ridiculously cool and even historical. I've thrown all my heart, soul, and mind into it, and I had huge opportunity costs to join.<br /><br />So, please read this carefully and think- you could make a historic impact by just introducing me to the right people.<br /><br />I need *genuine* 10X coders- the real superstars- the ones who are contacted by recruiters constantly- to get on the phone with me. Forget every bad interaction they might have ever had with a recruiter- they need to hear about this project if they have any passion for technology or for the idea of hacking biology and saving our lives. I am a scientist and alpha geek myself, and I find phone calls with extremely talented people almost always go well, and that even if they're not interested personally, their imagination is set on fire by the project, and they'll think of *other* 10X coders I should talk to, *or* they'll find a home with our project in the longer run.<br /><br />I need to meet or talk to those rare folks. I already know several that I think are 10X, and have hired some. Yes, we've had "Michael Jordan" level engineers and scientists join the team already- and I want to find more. We've had people leave their dream jobs and their own companies. With my previous company I helped found, which shares some of the technical team and ideals with this one, we even hired a tenured professor full-time, someone at the very top of a worldwide field.<br /><br />I want anyone who is *genuinely* a rockstar- not, as some posters mentioned, just someone who thinks they are- to reach out to me. I want to talk to as many of these 10X engineers as you can send my way. I think such people in general will *resent* not getting the chance to hear about this project. It is the kind of thing you kick yourself for years for not hearing about sooner. For someone who wants to code stuff that will *really* have a major impact on the health of this planet, please contact me. I'm Kent Kemmish, you can email me at robots4synbio@gmail.com for more information.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12638221553952577646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-62695124487383926722013-12-10T23:30:58.977-08:002013-12-10T23:30:58.977-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Jain Technosofthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04856893455174251089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-66318355172413647342013-11-22T21:11:03.061-08:002013-11-22T21:11:03.061-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00670086906781282028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-30168826378978152862013-11-18T18:16:04.554-08:002013-11-18T18:16:04.554-08:00My similar views on the same subject are here - ht...My similar views on the same subject are here - http://angryweasel.com/blog/?p=726.<br /><br />Thanks for writing this.Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05992068617567763630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-63802323183047274772013-11-07T05:04:19.104-08:002013-11-07T05:04:19.104-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.pjbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09065388232282458321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-30766864319364077582013-11-07T05:03:26.769-08:002013-11-07T05:03:26.769-08:00Ok, I'll react on this assertion:
"but s...Ok, I'll react on this assertion:<br /><br />"but surely, a single programmer could not consistently close 10 times as many tickets as another!"<br /><br /><br />I agree. <br /><br />What a 10x programmer could do, or any reasonably competent programmer, if allowed to, is to close 0 tickets while the others would close n ticket/day. He would think about it. Why are there tickets to be closed? If they have to be closed, is how do close them all at once? But better, what to do to just avoid having them in the first place.<br /><br />Let assume that most of those tickets are bugs. Perhaps the problem is that of legacy code and technological debts. Probably, the best solution would be to just re-generate a new, bug-free program, from the specifications.<br /><br />But then, what specifications? How often have you seen specifications written before the spaghetti code, if at all?<br /><br />Perhaps being able to close all the tickets at once would involve a major "refactoring" (what an euphemism!) of the existing code. How often are the programmers allowed to perform such refactorings?<br /><br /><br />pjbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09065388232282458321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-44128731417354868092013-11-06T04:03:00.493-08:002013-11-06T04:03:00.493-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-22043628517761124722013-10-16T02:32:34.297-07:002013-10-16T02:32:34.297-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.IParrot Posthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15069490549961167642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-9651026815239171802013-10-16T02:32:19.398-07:002013-10-16T02:32:19.398-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.IParrot Posthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15069490549961167642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-74042892973824351872013-10-09T08:29:38.660-07:002013-10-09T08:29:38.660-07:00In response to salary versus developer productivit...In response to salary versus developer productivity in the comments:<br /><br />Different engineers have different aptitudes. I absolutely believe that there are engineers who could produce, say, a Hadoop-based reporting system for a given web site's analytics 10 times (or 50 times!) faster than an average programmer with basic training, and do a better job.<br /><br />I believe that person has not produced 10x the business value of the first programmer. Mostly they have produced about the same business value with 1/10th the costs, which is a lot less than 10x the business value. So they make more, but not 10x more, and that's appropriate.<br /><br />There *are* programmers who create 10x (or 50x!) the business value. But "doing something similar, a bit better and much faster" does not directly create that much business value.<br /><br />Only a programmer in a more executive function -- one who can choose *what* problems to solve -- will actually produce 10x the business value. And those guys *do* make 10x the salary, as they should. But their title doesn't usually include "programmer" or "software engineer" even if they're building the system... Or more commonly, directing a team of other engineers in how to build it.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08384330021606736859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-62237702837606004182013-10-02T03:42:01.989-07:002013-10-02T03:42:01.989-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Cristina Albert https://www.blogger.com/profile/05478411416057303272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-76105601610870776932013-10-02T03:41:21.513-07:002013-10-02T03:41:21.513-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Cristina Albert https://www.blogger.com/profile/05478411416057303272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-44151213086081991582013-10-02T03:28:40.798-07:002013-10-02T03:28:40.798-07:00I've worked with a few people who seem to be v...I've worked with a few people who seem to be viewed this way by management. Unfortunately the people at the coal face usually look at the code and realise yes it was produced quick, yes it does seem to work but yes its brittle as hell, is built on mud and not solid foundations. My view is there are a lot of smart idiots in the world.Steve Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08854697133772426439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-32959122168863520162013-10-01T11:20:38.365-07:002013-10-01T11:20:38.365-07:0010x engineers are rare, but in the ones that do ex...10x engineers are rare, but in the ones that do exist, what are the patterns in how they became 10x? Is it just years and years of experience? Is it the environment they came up in? Did they all read the same books or stick with the same technologies throughout their careers? How does an "average" developer put in place personal goals that will make them into a "10x" developer?Ogrfacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07706577989335132098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422014336627804072.post-14856241771163249492013-10-01T08:40:24.676-07:002013-10-01T08:40:24.676-07:00Are there 10x programmers? Yes, but only when comp...Are there 10x programmers? Yes, but only when compared to someone that can't program, doesn't have the skill for the task, or someone so lacking in the subject matter of the assignment.<br /><br />Basically I'm saying that 10x is a relative term, no an absolute, but I loved comment that there are a lot of programmers that think they're 10x!<br /><br />It reminds me of a great quote...<br /><br />"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert EinsteinUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17548788510083377255noreply@blogger.com