I have worked with "10x programmers", who have become "10x" by becoming specialists in their domain. I have also worked with people who are "10x programmers" who have a natural affinity solving problems using programming languages.<p>However the issue is telling these people apart, from "10x programmers" who appear to be "10x", but achieve this by cutting corners, creating technical debt, and not writing basic documentation.<p>I've seen sometimes how contractors have built up a reputation as "10x programmers", as they are, by nature, able to join and leave a company in a short period of time, which can allow them to mask the fact that their work is not maintainable.<p>It is not until later, that other technical permanent staff find out that their work was not actually "10x", however this doesn't bubble up to management.<p>Management then see permanent staff complaining about the code being difficult to work with, and wonder why they're not like the "10x" contractor.