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Nah. There are some people who can fix any bug and build any system from scratch. You can’t manufacture those people.

by ponker 6y ago

fxtentacle 6y ago
I disagree with your statement but agree with your point. I believe that's due to being curious and slightly introverted when young, so these people just have lots and lots of experience. Such people could be manufactured by training them on many different programming disciplines over many years. It's just that for almost any company, investing so much into training is not feasible. That employee might leave once training is over.
- siscia 6y ago
  What if the company does not train them, and they stay?
  - fxtentacle 6y ago
    Then they'll be regular employees, but not 10x-ers?
- poulsbohemian 6y ago
  In my own career, I've had moments where everything just flowed and I was incredibly productive. I've also had moments where I was absolutely worthless. The difference was all about the constraints of the environment. For example - yes, if you have great tooling that makes it easy to produce, then that's cool. But, if you don't have great tooling but you have the organizational support to bring in the tools and processes you need, then you are halfway there. On the other hand, if you don't have the organizational support - which often isn't about budget so much as actual verbal, emotional, political, psychological kinds of support - then your productivity will likely be very low. When I've been in places with management or clients that were repressive in their behaviors, well... they reaped what they sowed and out the door I went asap. Normally someone will pop up and say something about the risks or the security or something driving that kind of behavior or process - yes, I've worked in some high-risk environments, but there is a difference between a process designed to minimize faults and one that is just repressive because of ignorance, egos, etc. If you treat people badly, they will not produce at a high level.
poulsbohemian 6y ago
>Nah. There are some people who can fix any bug and build any system from scratch. You can’t manufacture those people. There are unique individuals like this, but I've noticed that the ones I've seen in the wild... this wasn't their first time building such a system. In another thread today someone was talking about building video conferencing systems and someone said "it's only easy for you because you've been doing it for years!" If it's the third time you've built that particular kind of subsystem, chances are you've made a lot of mistakes and know what you are doing, and now you can make it look easy. This is not to say that there aren't some who are more talented than others, but as another poster in this thread noted - it's more like a 90/10 or 80/20 split, where we could get rid of a big chunk of people who just aren't qualified.
quickthrower2 6y ago
But do you need them? There are mechanics that can build a car from scratch, and even forge the spanners they use from iron ore, all without reading a manual. But do you need that person to service your car.

Nah. There are some people who can fix any bug and build any system from scratch. You can’t manufacture those people.

by ponker 6y ago

Nah. There are some people who can fix any bug and build any system from scratch. You can’t manufacture those people.

I disagree with your statement but agree with your point. I believe that's due to being curious and slightly introverted when young, so these people just have lots and lots of experience. Such people could be manufactured by training them on many different programming disciplines over many years. It's just that for almost any company, investing so much into training is not feasible. That employee might leave once training is over.

siscia 6y ago
What if the company does not train them, and they stay?
- fxtentacle 6y ago
  Then they'll be regular employees, but not 10x-ers?
poulsbohemian 6y ago
In my own career, I've had moments where everything just flowed and I was incredibly productive. I've also had moments where I was absolutely worthless. The difference was all about the constraints of the environment. For example - yes, if you have great tooling that makes it easy to produce, then that's cool. But, if you don't have great tooling but you have the organizational support to bring in the tools and processes you need, then you are halfway there. On the other hand, if you don't have the organizational support - which often isn't about budget so much as actual verbal, emotional, political, psychological kinds of support - then your productivity will likely be very low. When I've been in places with management or clients that were repressive in their behaviors, well... they reaped what they sowed and out the door I went asap. Normally someone will pop up and say something about the risks or the security or something driving that kind of behavior or process - yes, I've worked in some high-risk environments, but there is a difference between a process designed to minimize faults and one that is just repressive because of ignorance, egos, etc. If you treat people badly, they will not produce at a high level.

poulsbohemian 6y ago

>Nah. There are some people who can fix any bug and build any system from scratch. You can’t manufacture those people. There are unique individuals like this, but I've noticed that the ones I've seen in the wild... this wasn't their first time building such a system. In another thread today someone was talking about building video conferencing systems and someone said "it's only easy for you because you've been doing it for years!" If it's the third time you've built that particular kind of subsystem, chances are you've made a lot of mistakes and know what you are doing, and now you can make it look easy. This is not to say that there aren't some who are more talented than others, but as another poster in this thread noted - it's more like a 90/10 or 80/20 split, where we could get rid of a big chunk of people who just aren't qualified.

quickthrower2 6y ago

But do you need them? There are mechanics that can build a car from scratch, and even forge the spanners they use from iron ore, all without reading a manual. But do you need that person to service your car.