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There may be 10x engineers. But what I know for sure is, that there are engineers (or engineering teams) which make you perform at 1/10x of what you might have,

There may be 10x engineers. But what I know for sure is, that there are engineers (or engineering teams) which make you perform at 1/10x of what you might have, by mis-carefully laying a minefield of: * Build difficulties. * Hidden dependencies. * Multiple and conflicting sources of configuration information. * Lack of documentation * Incorrect/outdated/stone-cold lyin' documentation * Mis-named executables, configuration files, variables, constants etc. * Lots of global state * Inconsistent and surprising design choices. * Console noise inundation. So, the supposed "10x engineer" simply knows a few paths through this mine, while the rest of you just keep triggering them with almost anything you do.

hsn915 5y ago
More broadly, the 10x engineer makes sure there are no such minefields. They make sure there are nearly zero hurdles to getting in the zone.
- einpoklum 5y ago
  Ah, no, quite the contrary. The person who makes sure there are no such minefields makes a lot less great advances him/herself - they're busy working in a careful, orderly and considerate manner. And then the other engineers perform close to his/her level. That's not the 10x engineer. However, the person who lays the minefield may only be a 1x person talent-wise, but since he puts his colleagues on 0.1x, s/he is effectively the 10x engineer of that team.
  - hsn915 5y ago
    If people can perform so much despite the minefields, then these are not minefields. If we agree that they are minefields that impede programmer's performance, then by definition someone who does not make sure these mines are never introduced in the first place will outperform those who just leave them all over the place. > they're busy working in a careful, orderly and considerate manner. Actually no. It only takes very little initial effort. He spends most of his time producing actual work. Meanwhile, other people spend a considerable amount of their time fighting against bad tools and bad development environments. Worse, they might not spend a whole lot of "total" time fighting against the minefields, but their presence ensures they can never get in the zone (flow) and thus they always perform worse than their potential.
  - MarkLowenstein 5y ago
    Almost by definition, the 10x engineer is the one who is in a position to reuse and work within his own code, almost exclusively, rather than navigate the minefields laid by others. The 1x engineer is a normal one who builds upon the work of other 1x people. The 0.1x engineer is the one who builds upon the 10x engineer's work.
eurasiantiger 5y ago
Seems more like time pressure than incompetence to me.

hsn915 5y ago

More broadly, the 10x engineer makes sure there are no such minefields. They make sure there are nearly zero hurdles to getting in the zone.

einpoklum 5y ago
Ah, no, quite the contrary. The person who makes sure there are no such minefields makes a lot less great advances him/herself - they're busy working in a careful, orderly and considerate manner. And then the other engineers perform close to his/her level. That's not the 10x engineer. However, the person who lays the minefield may only be a 1x person talent-wise, but since he puts his colleagues on 0.1x, s/he is effectively the 10x engineer of that team.
- hsn915 5y ago
  If people can perform so much despite the minefields, then these are not minefields. If we agree that they are minefields that impede programmer's performance, then by definition someone who does not make sure these mines are never introduced in the first place will outperform those who just leave them all over the place. > they're busy working in a careful, orderly and considerate manner. Actually no. It only takes very little initial effort. He spends most of his time producing actual work. Meanwhile, other people spend a considerable amount of their time fighting against bad tools and bad development environments. Worse, they might not spend a whole lot of "total" time fighting against the minefields, but their presence ensures they can never get in the zone (flow) and thus they always perform worse than their potential.
- MarkLowenstein 5y ago
  Almost by definition, the 10x engineer is the one who is in a position to reuse and work within his own code, almost exclusively, rather than navigate the minefields laid by others. The 1x engineer is a normal one who builds upon the work of other 1x people. The 0.1x engineer is the one who builds upon the 10x engineer's work.

eurasiantiger 5y ago

Seems more like time pressure than incompetence to me.