Interestingly I think that the propensity to create complex systems is a sign of inexperience (but aptitude nonetheless). I used to create the most hideously "enterprise" architectures in my projects that even I have problems grokking after years of not touching them. I've reached the stage of moderately complex and out of sheer love of the concept, actively work toward simpler solutions.

Ultimately a "10x hire" who overcomplicates things can probably be toned down through some mentoring.

I guess the "work smart, not hard" truism can be reworded to "solve smart, not complex" in this case.

> some poor sucker is going to have to maintain that mess.

Although complex is not the same thing as a mess, it merely might as well be.