You don't get to be an Nx programmer by working N times harder or longer. You probably have a diverse background of experience and well versed in applying knowl

You don't get to be an Nx programmer by working N times harder or longer. You probably have a diverse background of experience and well versed in applying knowledge from one area in another, and general creative problem solving. I certainly don't work 2x more than other devs on my team and perhaps less than 1x on many days. I do try to stay sharp in terms of what I'm doing, why it's being done, and on the lookout for alternative means of achieving the same or related ends. I'm sure that there's many times I've worked 2x harder, longer and produced 0.5x results in a complex and contrived process that I thought was more interesting, better in some vague way, or had great potential, only to find it should be trashed and done the 1x way. Sometimes though that informal R&D pays off in other circumstances. I do this because the 8 hours I spend working goes by much easier and I don't feel tired at the end of the day doing something I feel is ineffective. I haven't even done this for advancement in my career although it's a major factor that's considered when praising 1x. To each their own.