I'm a 10x developer, and that's 10% of my job. My primary job is being the CEO of the company, running in meetings, organising things, helping out my team members, talking with partners and clients, etc - Still I'm the top contributor to GitHub in the island of Cyprus (by far!). Respectfully, but you're wrong. I'm doing all of the above, plus more, in addition to being a 10x developer. In fact, I'm probably spending less than 20% of my time coding, yet still in that 20% I get to deliver 10x more value than the average software developer gets to do with 100% of his time.
Now of course, since the average software developer starts out most problems with the question; "How complex can I possibly implement this thing" this is probably not such a strange thing ...
I once heard a story about two guys back in the 1980s who rewrote Unix in its entirety in a weekend. Linus Torvalds created Git in 10 months. Could you rewrite Unix in a weekend, or create Git in 10 months? Your arrogance betrays you my friend.
Just because you can't do something doesn't imply others can't do it. This was the purpose of the archer image in the middle of the post ...
You still misunderstand (that's probably the bad communication skills that I mentioned). I'm not saying it would be impossible to get that level of coding output - just that the result is not as much value as you believe it is. So you overvalue your own contribution and undervalue everyone else's, while comparing yourself to the likes of Linus Torvalds, Dennis Ritchie, Fabrice Bellard or John Carmack. I think it's clear who between us two is arrogant and who isnt.
What did I misunderstand? You mentioned that the result of the group as a whole was important, and I explained how 10x devs increases the group's ability to deliver as a whole, due to teaching their skills to others, etc - How is that bad communication skills? Besides, what does my communication skills have to do with things? Have you heard of ad hominem ...?
while comparing yourself to the likes of Linus Torvalds, Dennis Ritchie, Fabrice Bellard or John Carmack
Where did I do that? Yet again, ad hominem. Besides, even if I did, so what? Are these people like Jesus, as in the "sole son of God" or something? Whom we can never expect to be able to achieve on pair with? I started coding when I was 8 years old, I am 48 years old now. No offence, but if you were more interested in learning from those having gone the path before you you'd might prosper slightly more - Just sayin' ... :/
Besides, you realise that your mindset not only prohibits you from growing, but is also toxic in regards to your employer's ability to attract skilled workers?
Maybe if you were less jealous of those better than you, and more eager to learn from them, you'd become one of us sometime in the future ...? ;)
I'm not jealous of you, but that you would think that is just another sign that you are very probably actually a "10x developer", but still fail to understand the original meaning of the term.
I too started coding when I was 8 - and I'm 45 years old now. Still, I don't want to become one of "you" in the future. All that I hope for every day is to become a better developer than I was the day before. And that growth is much more important to me than being able to boast about the numbers of commits or LOCs I have contributed.
It's not about LOC, if you had read the article you would understand that, since I am making that fact very clear.
Still, I don't want to become one of "you" in the future
OK, so how do you want the world to look like? Communism utopia where we're all equals in all regards? Race to bottom where we need to abandon walking because some of us are in wheel chairs, and we don't want to hurt their egos?
There are people in this world that can do amazing things, one of whom was linked into my article with a picture. I cannot do those things, but I can still appreciate that some can, and I enjoy the fact that such people exists.
I too started coding when I was 8 - and I'm 45 years old now
I think the pill would be easier to swallow if you didn’t brag about your accomplishments so much.
I worked with a guy who, from the first hour, bragged about how good he was (10x if you asked him), his amazing tools, questioned our use of Linux (“people will use Linux? Why?”), wanted to take over my role as lead dev etc. Cocky as hell and I couldn’t see myself spending another hour next to him. The next day he quit cos he didn’t want to be a mere pawn. Thanks for that.
Vibes I get from your posts remind me of him. That’s too bad cos you have interesting things to share but they’re overshadowed by cockiness.
Just be a quiet Nx developer and people that work with you will know what to replace N with, be it 10, 3 or 8.
That being said, I agree we should keep things simple and not use techs just because we can/want.
[Do you want a c]ommunism[sic!] utopia where we're all equals in all regards? Race to bottom where we need to abandon walking because some of us are in wheel chairs, and we don't want to hurt their egos?
You seem to have no idea about Marx communism or wheel chair users' egos. First, the communist utopia I envision is not a race to bottom, but just bottom line secured so everyone has the security not to fall below to aim above that. The most genius developers I ever met were actually rather meek than boastful.
I'm not saying people cannot accomplish amazing feats, I've witnessed some of these myself, for example as antfu and patak created vitest in the course of ~2 months (and inspired a lot of other developers to join their project so that it could prosper even more). They don't see themselves as 10x developers, but they inspired more than 10 developers each. To me, that is worth more than 10 times more commits on github.
Got to be honest I've never known a single developer ask how complex they can implement something. I've worked with every level of developer from apprentice to staff senior, even CEO.
Of course you're going to believe you have and will only hire the greatest devs out there, you've got to justify yourself hiring them and paying their salaries
The greatest devs never asks what their salary will become. They ask you about the product and the vision. If they believe in the vision, they'll work for free until you've got money to pay them ...
I partially agree with you on that one. Devs working for free is obviously just a manager's wet dream, we all have to pay the bills. However, I believe that great developers are in it rather for the interesting challenges and the meaning of their work than the other benefits. I know I am, as long as I don't have to worry about money, which luckily is the case.
Do your developers get taken on with no salary and a promise then? Or do they work in return for a salary that allows them to eat and keep a roof over their (and maybe their family's) heads?
I agree if a dev agrees with the vision and feels they are contributing to that vision, then so long as they also feel that contribution is appreciated they will take a lot and fight through the bad times, but they will grow wary if they don't feel that appreciation or compensation in some way.
I worked on Magic for free for a decade. I pay my crew today though, but it wouldn't even exist without that initial investment by me, for reasons I explain in my latest article
It was an exaggeration, but the point is still valid. A software developer who starts out the interview with asking about salary, is about as valuable as sand in the machine ...
And we're back to disagreement. If developers wants to make sure that they won't have to think more about money then they do about code on their new job, that's A-OK in my book. It also doesn't automatically follow that they are only in for the money if they ask about it first.
Or you first want to get the bottom line out of the way, so you can either stop wasting your time with an interview for a company that wants you to think about money issues rather than about code or otherwise get to the interesting part.
I don't apply for apply to jobs advertised without a salary, and I find even then the first question a recruiter asks is "what is your salary expectation?" and later on in the process if all is going well "what's the minimum they need to offer for me to be able to provisionally accept any offer I receive on your behalf".
Doesn't matter how much you believe in the vision if you can't put food on the table, or a roof over your head...more importantly if you can't do these things for your family. Any one in the real world understands that, belief in the vision or not.
And no, other than the two points money is required for above I do not do this job for the money.
I worked for free on Magic for a decade. If you don't agree with me, that's perfectly fine, but don't apply for a job with us unless you do agree ... ;)
I'm a 10x developer, and that's 10% of my job. My primary job is being the CEO of the company, running in meetings, organising things, helping out my team members, talking with partners and clients, etc - Still I'm the top contributor to GitHub in the island of Cyprus (by far!). Respectfully, but you're wrong. I'm doing all of the above, plus more, in addition to being a 10x developer. In fact, I'm probably spending less than 20% of my time coding, yet still in that 20% I get to deliver 10x more value than the average software developer gets to do with 100% of his time.
Now of course, since the average software developer starts out most problems with the question; "How complex can I possibly implement this thing" this is probably not such a strange thing ...
Your beliefs about the average software developer betrays your arrogance and merely prove my point.
I once heard a story about two guys back in the 1980s who rewrote Unix in its entirety in a weekend. Linus Torvalds created Git in 10 months. Could you rewrite Unix in a weekend, or create Git in 10 months? Your arrogance betrays you my friend.
Just because you can't do something doesn't imply others can't do it. This was the purpose of the archer image in the middle of the post ...
You still misunderstand (that's probably the bad communication skills that I mentioned). I'm not saying it would be impossible to get that level of coding output - just that the result is not as much value as you believe it is. So you overvalue your own contribution and undervalue everyone else's, while comparing yourself to the likes of Linus Torvalds, Dennis Ritchie, Fabrice Bellard or John Carmack. I think it's clear who between us two is arrogant and who isnt.
What did I misunderstand? You mentioned that the result of the group as a whole was important, and I explained how 10x devs increases the group's ability to deliver as a whole, due to teaching their skills to others, etc - How is that bad communication skills? Besides, what does my communication skills have to do with things? Have you heard of ad hominem ...?
Where did I do that? Yet again, ad hominem. Besides, even if I did, so what? Are these people like Jesus, as in the "sole son of God" or something? Whom we can never expect to be able to achieve on pair with? I started coding when I was 8 years old, I am 48 years old now. No offence, but if you were more interested in learning from those having gone the path before you you'd might prosper slightly more - Just sayin' ... :/
Besides, you realise that your mindset not only prohibits you from growing, but is also toxic in regards to your employer's ability to attract skilled workers?
Maybe if you were less jealous of those better than you, and more eager to learn from them, you'd become one of us sometime in the future ...? ;)
I'm not jealous of you, but that you would think that is just another sign that you are very probably actually a "10x developer", but still fail to understand the original meaning of the term.
I too started coding when I was 8 - and I'm 45 years old now. Still, I don't want to become one of "you" in the future. All that I hope for every day is to become a better developer than I was the day before. And that growth is much more important to me than being able to boast about the numbers of commits or LOCs I have contributed.
It's not about LOC, if you had read the article you would understand that, since I am making that fact very clear.
OK, so how do you want the world to look like? Communism utopia where we're all equals in all regards? Race to bottom where we need to abandon walking because some of us are in wheel chairs, and we don't want to hurt their egos?
There are people in this world that can do amazing things, one of whom was linked into my article with a picture. I cannot do those things, but I can still appreciate that some can, and I enjoy the fact that such people exists.
OK, no further explanation required ... :D
I think the pill would be easier to swallow if you didn’t brag about your accomplishments so much.
I worked with a guy who, from the first hour, bragged about how good he was (10x if you asked him), his amazing tools, questioned our use of Linux (“people will use Linux? Why?”), wanted to take over my role as lead dev etc. Cocky as hell and I couldn’t see myself spending another hour next to him. The next day he quit cos he didn’t want to be a mere pawn. Thanks for that.
Vibes I get from your posts remind me of him. That’s too bad cos you have interesting things to share but they’re overshadowed by cockiness.
Just be a quiet Nx developer and people that work with you will know what to replace N with, be it 10, 3 or 8.
That being said, I agree we should keep things simple and not use techs just because we can/want.
Might be. I'm not (only) bragging about my accomplishments though ...
Thank you. I wrote the article to stir up debate. Besides, my next article is arguably its punchline. In it I will barely mention myself ...
Thank you :)
You seem to have no idea about Marx communism or wheel chair users' egos. First, the communist utopia I envision is not a race to bottom, but just bottom line secured so everyone has the security not to fall below to aim above that. The most genius developers I ever met were actually rather meek than boastful.
I'm not saying people cannot accomplish amazing feats, I've witnessed some of these myself, for example as antfu and patak created vitest in the course of ~2 months (and inspired a lot of other developers to join their project so that it could prosper even more). They don't see themselves as 10x developers, but they inspired more than 10 developers each. To me, that is worth more than 10 times more commits on github.
Hahahaha :D
Have a nice day mate ... ^_^
Psst, don't bother to explain it to me, I literally couldn't care less ... ;)
Got to be honest I've never known a single developer ask how complex they can implement something. I've worked with every level of developer from apprentice to staff senior, even CEO.
Of course you're going to believe you have and will only hire the greatest devs out there, you've got to justify yourself hiring them and paying their salaries
The greatest devs never asks what their salary will become. They ask you about the product and the vision. If they believe in the vision, they'll work for free until you've got money to pay them ...
I partially agree with you on that one. Devs working for free is obviously just a manager's wet dream, we all have to pay the bills. However, I believe that great developers are in it rather for the interesting challenges and the meaning of their work than the other benefits. I know I am, as long as I don't have to worry about money, which luckily is the case.
Do your developers get taken on with no salary and a promise then? Or do they work in return for a salary that allows them to eat and keep a roof over their (and maybe their family's) heads?
I agree if a dev agrees with the vision and feels they are contributing to that vision, then so long as they also feel that contribution is appreciated they will take a lot and fight through the bad times, but they will grow wary if they don't feel that appreciation or compensation in some way.
I worked on Magic for free for a decade. I pay my crew today though, but it wouldn't even exist without that initial investment by me, for reasons I explain in my latest article
Working on your own project for free is a little different to others working on your project for free, especially if it is their main occupation
It was an exaggeration, but the point is still valid. A software developer who starts out the interview with asking about salary, is about as valuable as sand in the machine ...
And we're back to disagreement. If developers wants to make sure that they won't have to think more about money then they do about code on their new job, that's A-OK in my book. It also doesn't automatically follow that they are only in for the money if they ask about it first.
We ask the most important questions first. If the first question is how much money will I be making, it shows the priorities of the individual ...
Or you first want to get the bottom line out of the way, so you can either stop wasting your time with an interview for a company that wants you to think about money issues rather than about code or otherwise get to the interesting part.
I fundamentally disagree, but that's OK, we don't need to agree on everything ...
I don't apply for apply to jobs advertised without a salary, and I find even then the first question a recruiter asks is "what is your salary expectation?" and later on in the process if all is going well "what's the minimum they need to offer for me to be able to provisionally accept any offer I receive on your behalf".
Doesn't matter how much you believe in the vision if you can't put food on the table, or a roof over your head...more importantly if you can't do these things for your family. Any one in the real world understands that, belief in the vision or not.
And no, other than the two points money is required for above I do not do this job for the money.
I worked for free on Magic for a decade. If you don't agree with me, that's perfectly fine, but don't apply for a job with us unless you do agree ... ;)
Don't worry, after reading a few of your articles I wouldn't want to :D
Hehe :D
Mission accomplished ;)