{"id":736,"date":"2023-06-29T11:50:40","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T06:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nocturnalknight.co\/?p=736"},"modified":"2023-06-29T11:50:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T06:20:40","slug":"is-the-myth-of-a-10x-developer-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nocturnalknight.com\/?p=736","title":{"rendered":"Is the myth of a \u201c10X Developer\u201d Real?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re a software engineer, manager or leader, I am sure you have heard the term \u201810x developer\u2019<\/em><\/strong> used in discussions. It refers to developers who are purportedly 10 times more productive, or capable, than their peers, while it is a hotly contested category. Some refer to it very liberally, others deny that it even exists. In the last 40+ years, the \u201810X developer`<\/strong> has become a \u2018Loch Ness<\/em><\/strong>` of the tech world, fueled by the hype associated with Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not about to delude myself into thinking that writing a blog on it to pass my verdict will put these theories to rest, but the question has gained enough traction that it deserves a little articulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do 10x developers really exist, and if so, how would we distinguish them? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Framing the Issue<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

All of us can acknowledge that the range of skills in most human activities can be extensive. A marathon runner can cover roughly 10 times the distance that an untrained person could, while a professional chef can cook a 5-course meal in 1\/5th the time it takes an average person to do a 2-course meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coding, which is a hugely complex field unencumbered by physical limitations, should naturally show differences in the skill that vary by orders of magnitude. Thus, if by 10x developer we simply mean a person whose skill level is in a different league compared to someone else, then clearly<\/em> they exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could anyone argue otherwise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the rub though, in the data-driven and lexically precise world of modern tech, that\u2019s not what 10x developer means<\/em>. Instead, a 10x developer is supposed to be someone who genuinely outperforms others by 10 times or more on some quantifiable scale. That \u2018quantifiable scale\u2019 is where the problems start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did the term actually come from? Enter Coding War Games.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coding War Games<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister have conducted the \u201cCoding War Games<\/a>\u201d since 1977. This is a public productivity survey in which teams of software implementors from different organizations compete to complete a series of benchmarks in minimal time with minimal defects. They\u2019ve had over 600 developers participate. Its results are publicly available and is very informative, to say the least. Jeff Lester published a wonderful piece on the origins of the 10X developer here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top findings from these are,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1, Get your working environment Right<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The overriding observation from this study is that quiet, private, dedicated working space with fewer interruptions led to groups that performed significantly better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2, Remove the Net Negative Producing Programmer<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some developers are \u201cnet negative producing programmers\u201d (NNPP), that is they produce so many defects that removing them from the team increases <\/em>productivity. This is the opposite of a 10X developer, these people are the ones that make the team productivity go from bad to worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Problem with Measuring \u2018Skill\u2019<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Even where skill can vary wildly, differences will not necessarily be quantifiable. A talented artist may know how to create a painting that teleports you to a whole other world compared to an average artiste who can transport you to the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the question is, can you attach numbers to that painting\u2019s beauty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work of a developer isn\u2019t nearly as abstract, but not all of it can be reduced to metrics either, and definitely not the programming skill itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A less glamorous approach may be to judge a 10x dev not in terms of skill but in terms of productivity<\/em>. Someone who can write 500 lines of code when it takes others to write 50 would then fall in that category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you know anything about programming, however, you\u2019ve probably already spotted the problem with this line of thinking. Longer code isn\u2019t necessarily more efficient, and for most people there tends to be a positive correlation between how quickly one works and how many bugs one creates.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to say that programmers can\u2019t produce bug-free code much faster than their peers. Where this statement proves fallacious though, is in trying to peg that difference to a single metric. There are myriad factors at play that will affect a developer\u2019s productivity outside of their skill, including their team and the environment they find themselves. In fact, depending on the situation, the 10x tag may be inaccurate because a developer could be programming well over<\/em> 10 times as much as another and still produce 1\/10th of the \u2018Outcomes\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should be our conclusion? There can be no doubt that the field of programming has its own Mozarts and Vincent Van Goghs, and few would object if these people were described as being \u2018orders of magnitude\u2019 better than the rest. But it is important to recognize that this is only a<\/em> figure of speech<\/em>, and not something meant to be used according to its precise quantitative meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t presume to speak for the tech industry as a whole, but I for one have noticed a worrying tendency to read the expression \u201810x developer\u2019 literally<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately this does more harm than good, as it spreads the myth that there is some universal metric whereby every programmer\u2019s value can always be quantified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Important qualities like creativity, client focus and teamwork are entirely omitted in this way of thinking, which is why my final suggestion is to stop worrying about lofty 10x developers and whether you are, aren\u2019t, or may or not become one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply focus on being the best developer you can be. That will always be enough.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References\u00a0& Further Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Origin of a 10X developer <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/medium.com\/ingeniouslysimple\/the-origins-of-the-10x-developer-2e0177ecef60<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/gwern.net\/doc\/cs\/algorithm\/2001-demarco-peopleware-whymeasureperformance.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/news.ycombinator.com\/item?id=22349531<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 10x Programmer Myth<\/a><\/blockquote>