I’ve worked with people who are the “10x developer” people are talking about. I hope I can explain the confusion. First: let’s just replace that with “much mor

I’ve worked with people who are the “10x developer” people are talking about. I hope I can explain the confusion. First: let’s just replace that with “much more productive than average” developer. 10x is a silly statement, a bit like saying someone is a 10x footballer etc. It’s correct to say these people get a lot more done than others. They often have admirable traits, such as great focus or enthusiasm for their job. They’re dedicated and will work long hours to get things done. Great for a CEO or investor to have. On solo projects, they’re exactly the man for the job. And startups usually begin as solo projects. The reason there’s such a backlash on Twitter is that there is a huge cost to the rest of a software engineering team when working with such a colleague. Every instance I’ve seen of this situation has a common factor: as others joined the team, the MPTA developer monopolised the codebase. They won’t delegate, and preferred to spend time coding rather than helping others do their job. And here’s the thing: The productivity gap is mostly a function of this dynamic Try to take ownership of something, and the MPTA dev will use the time in the evening to rewrite your code in their style. They are extremely opinionated (though often correct) and unwilling to delegate and bring in ideas from others. Make a mistake (inevitably as you pick up the codebase) and the MPTA will roll their eyes at the CEO and replace your code. Working in a team is not about who writes more code, it’s about how to work together to move the company forward. And a happy team building a large product will always outperform a MPTA developer by long-term measures. With no documentation, strong communication, team ethic, and delegation, employing a MPTA is unsustainable in the long term. If you’re a VC or early stage startup you probably don’t care about that. But most developers are in teams in bigger companies, and perpetuating the 10x myth makes their lives worse, and makes them look bad. Moving on from the idea that a 10x developer is good for a sustainable development effort is a significant step in the maturation of software engineering as a field. They have their place and can be an incredible asset, but great software engineering is about teamwork and communication.