5 ms·

Reed is taking that into account. Reed and Netflix have been creating software for many years. They certainly have had "Rockstars" who could bust out functional

Reed is taking that into account. Reed and Netflix have been creating software for many years. They certainly have had "Rockstars" who could bust out functional but unmaintainable code. Those people are not valuable to Netflix because Netflix is looking for long term success. A 100x engineer exists in the context of a global company like Netflix. Because if a developer makes something just 1% better that translates into millions of dollars of savings or increased revenue because on the margins just 0.001% increase of new subscribers is thousands of customers.

jacques_chester 6y ago
> Because if a developer makes something just 1% better that translates into millions of dollars of savings or increased revenue because on the margins just 0.001% increase of new subscribers is thousands of customers. Generally, the idea of an Nx programmer is comparing programmers on their output, not their outcomes. Otherwise you go from trying to compare levels of skill to levels of luck.
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  Yeah, you can do terrible programming work on an extremely popular product, or do good programming work on a product that nobody wants or cares about. And no one is 100% correct about what customers want 100% of the time.
leptons 6y ago
Netflix doesn't win or lose customers based on programmer performance, they win by having content that people actually want to watch. I don't care if the UI is 10% less slick, as long as they have stuff I want to watch. The only reason I've ever considered dropping Netflix is "why am I paying for this when there is nothing I want to watch". Fortunately, they have come through with some interesting content recently, and I'm still paying them. But give it a month or two with nothing I want to watch, and I'm pulling that plug, and no amount of 100x programmers will be able to keep me as a customer.
- puranjay 6y ago
  Ditto. I do wonder what 100x developers get them. I don't know if Amazon Prime or Disney+ have 100x developers, but their streaming experience is similar to Netflix. Maybe Netflix is 5-10% faster. I can't say. The point is, with a service like Netflix, it's absolutely the content that matters. People happily watch pirated cam copies of movies because they want the content so much. Then again, the salaries of 10x developers are a lot lower than 10x creators (directors, showrunners, actors, etc)
- triceratops 6y ago
  > I don't care if the UI is 10% less slick, as long as they have stuff I want to watch. It's not a coincidence that they happen to have stuff that you want to watch. You're aware Netflix also applies data insights to decide what to make?
  - leptons 6y ago
    >You're aware Netflix also applies data insights to decide what to make? Of course I give something thumbs up or down depending on if I liked it - why would you assume I don't know what they do with that? But they've still made some barely watchable crap, too, in spite of themselves, so I do have to question if rating things even matters.
    - triceratops 6y ago
      The thumbs up/down is just one signal among many. They know in aggregate what people watch, how much of a movie/episode they watched, the kinds of devices they watched on, how much binging/pausing they did, when and where they watched it... > they've still made some barely watchable crap, too To you. That crap was undoubtedly entertaining to someone. Not to mention a 100% hit rate is nearly impossible in the creative biz.
      - leptons 6y ago
        https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/cj4rrp/was_another_life_scifi_series_on_netflix_made_bad/ https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/cj4rrp/was_another_l... Netflix's "Another Life" was so bad that people wonder if it was made bad on purpose. It was absolutely awful, and anyone that thinks it was good loses any credibility about what's good or bad sci-fi. And I've been developing webpages for many decades, and even worked quite a long time at a precursor to what Netflix is today - yes, an online movie streaming service. So please don't talk down to me like I don't know what any of this is about. You're seriously wasting your time explaining any of that to me.
vsareto 6y ago
>A 100x engineer exists in the context of a global company like Netflix. Because if a developer makes something just 1% better that translates into millions of dollars of savings or increased revenue because on the margins just 0.001% increase of new subscribers is thousands of customers. This dumb developer multiplier has really taken on a whole bunch of different convenient meanings. The original idea had absolutely nothing to do with company success. It's not even useful now and it was questionable before.
rightbyte 6y ago
The guys doing money printing machine control software must be 100'000x engineers. The starts at Netflix are the procurement people that ensnare good movies while drinking fine wine on Manhattan or whatever. I would not say it is an engineering company like say, IBM or Oracle.

jacques_chester 6y ago

> Because if a developer makes something just 1% better that translates into millions of dollars of savings or increased revenue because on the margins just 0.001% increase of new subscribers is thousands of customers. Generally, the idea of an Nx programmer is comparing programmers on their output, not their outcomes. Otherwise you go from trying to compare levels of skill to levels of luck.

bobthepanda 6y ago
Yeah, you can do terrible programming work on an extremely popular product, or do good programming work on a product that nobody wants or cares about. And no one is 100% correct about what customers want 100% of the time.

leptons 6y ago

Netflix doesn't win or lose customers based on programmer performance, they win by having content that people actually want to watch. I don't care if the UI is 10% less slick, as long as they have stuff I want to watch. The only reason I've ever considered dropping Netflix is "why am I paying for this when there is nothing I want to watch". Fortunately, they have come through with some interesting content recently, and I'm still paying them. But give it a month or two with nothing I want to watch, and I'm pulling that plug, and no amount of 100x programmers will be able to keep me as a customer.

puranjay 6y ago
Ditto. I do wonder what 100x developers get them. I don't know if Amazon Prime or Disney+ have 100x developers, but their streaming experience is similar to Netflix. Maybe Netflix is 5-10% faster. I can't say. The point is, with a service like Netflix, it's absolutely the content that matters. People happily watch pirated cam copies of movies because they want the content so much. Then again, the salaries of 10x developers are a lot lower than 10x creators (directors, showrunners, actors, etc)
triceratops 6y ago
> I don't care if the UI is 10% less slick, as long as they have stuff I want to watch. It's not a coincidence that they happen to have stuff that you want to watch. You're aware Netflix also applies data insights to decide what to make?
- leptons 6y ago
  >You're aware Netflix also applies data insights to decide what to make? Of course I give something thumbs up or down depending on if I liked it - why would you assume I don't know what they do with that? But they've still made some barely watchable crap, too, in spite of themselves, so I do have to question if rating things even matters.
  - triceratops 6y ago
    The thumbs up/down is just one signal among many. They know in aggregate what people watch, how much of a movie/episode they watched, the kinds of devices they watched on, how much binging/pausing they did, when and where they watched it... > they've still made some barely watchable crap, too To you. That crap was undoubtedly entertaining to someone. Not to mention a 100% hit rate is nearly impossible in the creative biz.
    - leptons 6y ago
      https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/cj4rrp/was_another_life_scifi_series_on_netflix_made_bad/ https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/cj4rrp/was_another_l... Netflix's "Another Life" was so bad that people wonder if it was made bad on purpose. It was absolutely awful, and anyone that thinks it was good loses any credibility about what's good or bad sci-fi. And I've been developing webpages for many decades, and even worked quite a long time at a precursor to what Netflix is today - yes, an online movie streaming service. So please don't talk down to me like I don't know what any of this is about. You're seriously wasting your time explaining any of that to me.

vsareto 6y ago

>A 100x engineer exists in the context of a global company like Netflix. Because if a developer makes something just 1% better that translates into millions of dollars of savings or increased revenue because on the margins just 0.001% increase of new subscribers is thousands of customers. This dumb developer multiplier has really taken on a whole bunch of different convenient meanings. The original idea had absolutely nothing to do with company success. It's not even useful now and it was questionable before.

rightbyte 6y ago

The guys doing money printing machine control software must be 100'000x engineers. The starts at Netflix are the procurement people that ensnare good movies while drinking fine wine on Manhattan or whatever. I would not say it is an engineering company like say, IBM or Oracle.