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If the definition of a 10x developer is 10x more productive than the least productive member of the team, then I’m at least a 10x engineer. We had a story to b

If the definition of a 10x developer is 10x more productive than the least productive member of the team, then I’m at least a 10x engineer. We had a story to build a relatively simple go web server and deploy it to kubernetes one of my teammates got it, and basically got no where with it for a couple of days so I thought I’d get it started for him. I got a basic hello world server set up and deployed along with a ‘ko’ setup so he could do hot rebuilds and deploys with a keypress. I sent him the git repo and instructions for how to get it working. While I was waiting for him to get it working, I was kind of in a groove so I kept adding features from the story. By the time he got it compiled (with me coming over and just walking him through everything because he couldn’t follow the same docs I used to get started), it was already 90% finished. If I had waited for him, he’d still be working on it for another 2 weeks at least. It’s not that I’m a genius or he’s an idiot, he’s just fairly new on the team and I built our whole stack from scratch more or less and know it like the back of my hand.

UK-AL 7y ago
Have you considered actually teaching and paring that developer for a few weeks? You know have another capable engineer. That's real 10x. Your solution of just doing it by yourself is a short term boost.
- empath75 7y ago
  He didn’t want to pair, I asked. He also never asks for help when he’s struggling.
maaaats 7y ago
You could have been a 10x developer if you taught him how to do it. A single developer can only scale so much, a true 10x developer is one that scales the output of those around as well.
- kevinconroy 7y ago
  Yep. And if you're a 10x developer who becomes a manager or team lead, your best bet to maintaining your 10x effect (or increasing it to 100x) is to grow and support your team. You might not say that they are each and all 10x, but if you can grow them from 0.01x-2x range up to the 1x-10x range, then multiple by n team members and you get the net effect of a 100x-1000x dev.
deleted 7y ago
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lkschubert8 7y ago
That sounds like a very hostile way to solve the problem of them struggling with something.

UK-AL 7y ago

Have you considered actually teaching and paring that developer for a few weeks? You know have another capable engineer. That's real 10x. Your solution of just doing it by yourself is a short term boost.

empath75 7y ago
He didn’t want to pair, I asked. He also never asks for help when he’s struggling.

maaaats 7y ago

You could have been a 10x developer if you taught him how to do it. A single developer can only scale so much, a true 10x developer is one that scales the output of those around as well.

kevinconroy 7y ago
Yep. And if you're a 10x developer who becomes a manager or team lead, your best bet to maintaining your 10x effect (or increasing it to 100x) is to grow and support your team. You might not say that they are each and all 10x, but if you can grow them from 0.01x-2x range up to the 1x-10x range, then multiple by n team members and you get the net effect of a 100x-1000x dev.

deleted 7y ago

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lkschubert8 7y ago

That sounds like a very hostile way to solve the problem of them struggling with something.