"Assuming that's true" is a big caveat, there. People have been bandying the 10x-100x saying for years, ignoring the fact that perceived productivity differenc

"Assuming that's true" is a big caveat, there. People have been bandying the 10x-100x saying for years, ignoring the fact that perceived productivity differences between employees are hugely subjective, and nearly impossible to quantify, in any case. As a constructive proof of this, consider that borderline prima-donna personality type we know and love: management (or those simply jealous of his stock options or reputation, but who don't know him well) might consider him a "rainmaker", the big kahuna, etc -- the classic "10x" employee. For a while, at least. Whereas those who have worked under (or with) that person for a while might have a substantially different evaluation (more like -10x). Either because they've deal with his morale-squashing abrasiveness... or because they've seen his handiwork up close. Enough to detect, let's just say, a bit of a disconnect between their material output, and the superhuman gravitas projected onto them. Also, while it may be arguably more true for tech that intrinsic employee values greater than other professions, there's not much basis for believing -- as many hackers seem to like to believe -- that this is something uniquely, or nearly uniquely true for tech people. There are all kinds of professions (not even professions that have outlandishly high salaries) where it could easily be said that certain employees contribute greatly more than others -- bartenders, chefs, and (though some may laugh here) schoolteachers come immediately to mind. Yet even though competition is sometimes quite fierce for these star performers[1], no one in those professions is in the habit of saying "so-and-so is 10x, 100x more productive than your typical bartender/chef." So to a large extent, I think the whole 10x/100x thing has a lot to do with the current zeitgeist -- and the fact that a lot of tech people, frankly, have incredibly inflated egos, and easily imagine themselves in that rarefied 10x/100x category. And not so much with the incredible, intrinsic business value of high-performing engineers. I mean realy now: 10x? Okay, maybe. 100x? Come on. [1] well, maybe not for schoolteachers, unfortunately.