10,000 hours programming is not specific enough of a target to equate to Gladwell’s examples. It’s like saying “I practiced playing sports for 10,000 hours, so

10,000 hours programming is not specific enough of a target to equate to Gladwell’s examples. It’s like saying “I practiced playing sports for 10,000 hours, so I am a professional athlete.” Now, if you developed using a single language targeted on a specific platform for 10,000 hours while challenging yourself at a high level, you would have a very strong level of expertise in that area. Furthermore, Gladwell made the distinction that the hours spent should be deliberate and tailored to improve skills. Working on tasks handed down to you by your superiors at Google is not deliberate practice.