>So 5x engineers are probably a thing that exists. But let’s take a step back and remember what those studies were mostly measuring, namely the time it takes in

>So 5x engineers are probably a thing that exists. But let’s take a step back and remember what those studies were mostly measuring, namely the time it takes individuals to complete a programming task. That's exactly what the "10x programmer" meme refers to: Someone that can complete programming tasks 10x faster >It’s easy to envisage scenarios where the 5x person writes code that’s incredibly difficult for others to maintain or a median code-contributor making 5x contributions through mentoring other team members, fostering team cohesiveness, or their domain expertise. We can certainly envisage such scenarios, but I think most programmers have met someone that works 5x faster than average and someone that works 5x slower than average but produces similar code and has proportional effects on the team/project. That's a 25x difference. >This isn’t even touching on the fact that programming is rapidly changing with the rise of generative AI, where it’s not hard to imagine a future where the median engineer will have a much more level playing field with the people who are 5x better at individual tasks. Give it a decade or two. Right now AI code generation is mainly used to automate easy and repetitive tasks. In other industries such work would be done by paralegals, nurses, etc.