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I disagree that a regular 1x programmer is comparable to someone slacking off on a university group assignment. I prefer the sports analogy, where there are som

by soneca 4y ago

I disagree that a regular 1x programmer is comparable to someone slacking off on a university group assignment. I prefer the sports analogy, where there are some stars with disproportional impact in the outcome of games, but who work with other also very hard-working, professional athletes. No one is slacking around, there is just some people that are better. Also, I do think there are 10x programmers that are 10x in a myriad of contexts, not just one team. I am not botching your idea, I just have a different perspective of what the term “10x” means.

ozim 4y ago
You are not botching my idea but Fred Brooks idea: *Programming managers have long recognized wide productivity variations between good programmers and poor ones. But the actual measured magnitudes have astounded all of us. In one of their studies, Sackman, Erikson, and Grant were measuring perfor- mances of a group of experienced programmers. Within just this group the ratios between best and worst performances averaged about 10:1 on productivity measurements and an amazing 5:1 on program speed and space measurements! In short the $20,000/year programmer may well be 10 times as productive as the $10,000/year one. The converse may be true, too. The data showed no correlation whatsoever between experience and per- formance. (I doubt if that is universally true.)*