It feels like we always defined 10x programmers as those that "make" things 10x as fast.
But, the true cost of software is in the maintenance. Building the software is 10% of the cost, 90% is the cost of keeping it running and fixing it over the life of the software.
Certain programmers will "make" software that might be only, say, 0.7 times as fast as the next. But, the way they made their software will lead to 10x more software maintenance. IMHO, this would be a developer with poor design patterns, no regard for automated testing, and no regard for how their work can be used and modified by others. It'll work, and it'll get "done" within the sprint, but the true cost will be seen in the years that follow.
Those 10x developers are causing the maintenance costs to go up by 10x. If you believe the numbers around 10% to build, and 90% to maintain, then that means one of those developers will make your project cost almost 9x as much over the life of the software.
That's the 10x programmer you should be watching out for.
I call those -1x developers. Knew 2 of them, in both cases entirety of the code they done ended up being replaced for bug/bad design reasons.
I think the peak was implementing cracklib based password strength checker that... just returned that password is strong if cracklib was not installed, and didn't tell ops to install it on servers or add any check that would alert if it is not installed.
> Those 10x developers are causing the maintenance costs to go up by 10x. If you believe the numbers around 10% to build, and 90% to maintain, then that means one of those developers will make your project cost almost 9x as much over the life of the software.
On flip side, developer making right architectural and maintenance decisions might just be 10x in grand scale of project, even if they don't write code all that much better or faster than coworkers
But, the true cost of software is in the maintenance. Building the software is 10% of the cost, 90% is the cost of keeping it running and fixing it over the life of the software.
Certain programmers will "make" software that might be only, say, 0.7 times as fast as the next. But, the way they made their software will lead to 10x more software maintenance. IMHO, this would be a developer with poor design patterns, no regard for automated testing, and no regard for how their work can be used and modified by others. It'll work, and it'll get "done" within the sprint, but the true cost will be seen in the years that follow.
Those 10x developers are causing the maintenance costs to go up by 10x. If you believe the numbers around 10% to build, and 90% to maintain, then that means one of those developers will make your project cost almost 9x as much over the life of the software.
That's the 10x programmer you should be watching out for.