I have worked with "10x programmers", who have become "10x" by becoming specialists in their domain. I have also worked with people who are "10x programmers" wh

I have worked with "10x programmers", who have become "10x" by becoming specialists in their domain. I have also worked with people who are "10x programmers" who have a natural affinity solving problems using programming languages. However the issue is telling these people apart, from "10x programmers" who appear to be "10x", but achieve this by cutting corners, creating technical debt, and not writing basic documentation. I've seen sometimes how contractors have built up a reputation as "10x programmers", as they are, by nature, able to join and leave a company in a short period of time, which can allow them to mask the fact that their work is not maintainable. It is not until later, that other technical permanent staff find out that their work was not actually "10x", however this doesn't bubble up to management. Management then see permanent staff complaining about the code being difficult to work with, and wonder why they're not like the "10x" contractor.