<p><pre><code> Writes code that others can read.
Reads the Docs.
Updates the Docs.
</code></pre>
Hey, if you can do that, you are already more than a 1x engineer. I'd say you are at least 1.5x. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Writes tedious, multiplicative code and never stops to reflect on opportunities to express things more efficiently.<p>- Writes docs littered with misused buzzwords (especially "leverage" and "platform") that are at best useless, and more often actively misleading.<p>- When not sure what to do, muddles through with the first nightmarish idea to come to mind, rather than taking a step back and trying to simplify or seeking prior art. No aesthetic sensibility, no innate revulsion to garbage code.<p>- Has no sense of how long things should take, and no problem spinning for 3 weeks on a half-day task they're delegated.<p>- Approves train-wreck pull requests.<p>- Executes every CR suggestion, even those that make things worse.<p>- Attempts a bad deploy 3 or 4 times before wondering why they are hitting the auto-rollback trigger; assumes something is wrong with the deployment system.<p>- After 30 seconds of shallow thought, writes off any production issue they're asked to debug (including emergency pages) as "must be network" or "must be database" and fires off a vague bug report to sit in somebody's queue for 6 months before being closed for insufficient detail while the fire continues to burn.<p>- Gracefully acknowledges design feedback, but goes with their original plan anyways. Or more likely, built the thing weeks before soliciting design approval and won't go back to change it.<p>- Very interested in getting promoted; not at all interested in technical depth, novelty, or quality.
Context for anyone who missed the original thread on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/skirani/status/1149302828420067328" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/skirani/status/1149302828420067328</a>
The 10x engineer exists. What do they do differently? They have 10 times the average impact on the organization around them.<p>We got over measuring lines of code a long time ago. We should measure impact on the people around you and the culture you create.<p>This list looks a lot like 10x stuff to me.
Why doesn't anyone talk about compensation? Does 10x engineer gets paid 10x as well? Or taking 1x compensation is another feature of the 10x engineer?
The ability to create useful software is a complex, dynamic set of skills that that varies across people and across time. It isn't easily assessed through a short list of simple characteristics. It can be somewhat assessed, with difficulty and mixed results.<p>Yay, we can all go home now.