10x Developer Isn’t a Real Thing
I’ve heard this a lot, but I know it’s baloney
Background
If you’ve been living under a rock like me several articles on here throw out the term 10x developer in the titles. A 10x developer is a single software developer/programmer who is 10 times more productive than other developers, usually with similar experience.
10x Developer isn’t Measurable
How does one measure developer productivity in the first place? Seriously sit back and think about it because no method is certain and a lot of ambiguity exists. If you go by story points, well everyone estimates things differently and tons of things can go wrong/well which vastly changes outcomes. Try going by lines of code and everyone will laugh at you. As of now a lot goes in to determine if a developer is worthwhile and nobody (seriously not a damn soul) can use a metric to determine productivity accurately. Managers exist to understand the nuance and what the developer provides to an organization based on current skill level. Sure you can distinguish a junior from a senior or an architect based on influence across organization, however that’s been known for years. My point, you can’t measure productivity, which means you can’t measure a developer being 10x of others.
