Personally been struggling with lots of inner thoughts on this. The root of it - I really hate the 10x term, especially the many misunderstood myths around it (along with hero syndrome), and how I strongly believe in 10x being very contextual (anyone can be a 10x given the correct context).
Previously (before the tweet storm) - in a separate article
To be very frank, crude, and also "In my honest opinion" only (so add lots of salt)
There are a lot of programmers who are really bad. Like 10x or even 100x bad.
So as most pointed out, it ended up as a business term in larger companies. Especially nonengineering companies, who could not know better regarding programming.
Because due to their sheer hiring size - a good chunk of their developers ends up being really bad, or worse, being busy with politics rather than actual work.
So whenever a good programmer, is willing to ditch the political nonsense. Put his job on the line and risk. And get things done...
Suddenly from the average perspective in that company: he is truly 10x (Assuming he succeeded, if he didn't, he would be fired)
I personally witnessed many times as a vendor working for such big companies. Which is interesting to say per least, cause being in an engineering-focused company. We would not consider such individuals 10x. But I guess 2, or 3x technically? I have no idea how to quantify this.
So in that sense, they were 10x not because they were extremely great. But because the average was really bad. And they have the courage to stand up to it.
Also to be clear: For those in such a situation, and made it through. They automatically earn my mark of respect. Cause I will emphasize. It takes real courage to get things done in such an environment. And in development work, cutting through the crap and communication is a good half of the battle.
Personally, I would not stand for it. And send in my resignation letter for a real engineering company... or in my case form my own engineering company.
Ironically the extremely toxic "anti-social" traits mentioned in the tweets - are self-reinforcing behaviors which create situations where the "heroes" constantly look like 10x, or even 100x - because no one else could fix the system (what documentation?).
But, more recently - as I am constantly pondering on how to structure a curriculum/process to bridge the gap between a junior dev, and a senior dev. A gap while not quantifiably a 10x, is huge and visible - completely contradicting in me the idea of 10x being a myth.
Lots of complex thoughts in me related to the topic, including how as an industry (in my country now at least) we seem to have a somewhat toxic "only hire seniors" mindset. Partially due to the perceived "10x" difference between them - a mindset I strongly disagree and slowly trying to fight against.
(I also struggle with a whole other unrelated topic, on how VC's are, and the fact that as a startup founder I am somewhat "reliant" on them)
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Personally been struggling with lots of inner thoughts on this. The root of it - I really hate the 10x term, especially the many misunderstood myths around it (along with hero syndrome), and how I strongly believe in 10x being very contextual (anyone can be a 10x given the correct context).
Previously (before the tweet storm) - in a separate article
10x Programmers: Myth Or Reality?
Ashraf Alam ・ Mar 25 ・ 4 min read
I stood by the idea of 10x being a myth, and more the product of large organization having really bad recruitment practices.
To be very frank, crude, and also "In my honest opinion" only (so add lots of salt)
There are a lot of programmers who are really bad. Like 10x or even 100x bad.
So as most pointed out, it ended up as a business term in larger companies. Especially nonengineering companies, who could not know better regarding programming.
Because due to their sheer hiring size - a good chunk of their developers ends up being really bad, or worse, being busy with politics rather than actual work.
So whenever a good programmer, is willing to ditch the political nonsense. Put his job on the line and risk. And get things done...
Suddenly from the average perspective in that company: he is truly 10x (Assuming he succeeded, if he didn't, he would be fired)
I personally witnessed many times as a vendor working for such big companies. Which is interesting to say per least, cause being in an engineering-focused company. We would not consider such individuals 10x. But I guess 2, or 3x technically? I have no idea how to quantify this.
So in that sense, they were 10x not because they were extremely great. But because the average was really bad. And they have the courage to stand up to it.
Also to be clear: For those in such a situation, and made it through. They automatically earn my mark of respect. Cause I will emphasize. It takes real courage to get things done in such an environment. And in development work, cutting through the crap and communication is a good half of the battle.
Personally, I would not stand for it. And send in my resignation letter for a real engineering company... or in my case form my own engineering company.
Ironically the extremely toxic "anti-social" traits mentioned in the tweets - are self-reinforcing behaviors which create situations where the "heroes" constantly look like 10x, or even 100x - because no one else could fix the system (what documentation?).
But, more recently - as I am constantly pondering on how to structure a curriculum/process to bridge the gap between a junior dev, and a senior dev. A gap while not quantifiably a 10x, is huge and visible - completely contradicting in me the idea of 10x being a myth.
Lots of complex thoughts in me related to the topic, including how as an industry (in my country now at least) we seem to have a somewhat toxic "only hire seniors" mindset. Partially due to the perceived "10x" difference between them - a mindset I strongly disagree and slowly trying to fight against.
(I also struggle with a whole other unrelated topic, on how VC's are, and the fact that as a startup founder I am somewhat "reliant" on them)