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Re:The Myth of the Myth of the 10x Programmer (2020) by bjornsing on Friday January 20, 2023 @09:33AM (#34453669)
But it takes two to tango. In my experience a lot of the negative impact of a 10x:er is actually that they make 1-3x:ers feel very insecure, and some of them can’t handle that / go off the rails…

Now, is that really the 10x:ers fault?

Re:The Myth of the Myth of the 10x Programmer (2020) by pclmulqdq on Friday January 20, 2023 @09:41AM (#34453774)
That has not been my experience at all with "10x" programmers. I have often run into the first type from the parent comment - "hyper-productive" people who churn out huge amounts of code without a lot of thought. They tend to leave side effects all over the codebase, and often have someone in management who sponsors them (hoping to ride to promotions as a pair) who forces other teams to carry the burden of cleanup. However, if you run a startup, this kind of person really is an amazing asset, because there isn't a lot of codebase to clean up.

People I have met in the the third type (true 10x-ers who know it) seem to have a lot more humility, in my experience, than suggested here. If you look solely at metrics like kLOC/year, they are often in the middle or bottom of the pack. They are not usually generalists, instead specializing in some area that is of high value.

Re:The Myth of the Myth of the 10x Programmer (2020) by bjornsing on Friday January 20, 2023 @09:48AM (#34453848)
I’ve seen it many times. I’ve even seen managers on teams try to sabotage a 10x:er because he made the manager (and team) look bad.

When a single individual outperforms a large group the large group typically doesn’t like it, or the person doing it. Sadly that’s just a part of human nature. Where I live (Sweden) it’s referred to as the law of Jante. In other parts of the world it’s referred to as tall poppy syndrome or crab mentality.