Some programmers might code 10x faster, but lack the experience and wisdom to know they shouldn't be writing a piece of code at all. If your metric is lines of code, then the 10x programmer looks really impressive. They might truly be able to reinvent some wheel 10x faster than someone else.

By another metric, someone with the experience and wisdom to solve the problem by integrating existing solutions and writing less code may hypothetically complete a task 10x faster than the former 10x programmer - effectively becoming a 100x programmer in comparison.

But it's very likely some managers won't recognize what the "100x" programmer has accomplished. He just made the task look "easy", and now he's going to have to fill his time with more tasks, and at review time might look mediocre in comparison to the fast but naive 10x programmer.

"reinvent some wheel 10x faster than someone else" Ha-ha-ha, you've made my day

Perhaps he just likes his job?

You miss the point. "10x" doesn't mean working 2-3x longer than everyone else. If that's necessary, bad news, you're not a 10x coder. You're just an above average workaholic.

Of course, and hopefully he does. Working double the hours in a job you don't like would be awful.

I think most of us would accomplish 3 or 4 times more than we do given an additional 30+ hours of peace and quiet without distractions or external commitments, so I'm really asking if he's actually accomplishing more than any normal 1X developer would in his circumstances. I strongly suspect he's very fortunate to have a job and a family who support his choice to spend large amounts of time doing what he wants to do.