What is a 10x Engineer?

The software industry continuously seeks methods to measure developers’ productivity accurately. Initially, the focus was on the lines of code (LOC) produced by each engineer. However, it soon became apparent that sheer quantity didn’t necessarily equate to quality or efficiency. As a result, the industry shifted towards more sophisticated metrics such as story points, delivered tickets, and accepted user tests. These metrics aimed to provide a well-rounded view of productivity by considering the complexity and outcome of tasks completed.

The ultimate objective has always been determining which team members are the most effective. By identifying these key contributors, organizations hope to enhance team performance and foster best practices across the workforce. This ongoing quest to measure productivity accurately continues to evolve, reflecting the dynamic nature of the software development industry. Let’s consider the “10x developer”—a concept that suggests some engineers are ten times more productive than their peers, sparking much debate and controversy in the industry. 

The 10x Engineer Myth

There is this myth in the development community that some developers are ten times more productive than good developers. When given many tasks, “10x developers” can finish most in one day. The average developer may need a few days for the same tasks, and the worst, around ten days. However, when measuring productivity, there is no universal scale for comparison. 

The 10x Engineer in Theory

The theory behind “10x engineers” is weak. The most relevant studies were done years ago in unusual technological conditions (pen and paper were used in some instances!) and with a small sample size. Some recent research has raised other opinions: the gap between most software engineers is relatively modest in a managed environment. How the same person performs across multiple tasks is also different. People may outperform their peers in some tasks and be average in others. Although some engineers are better or faster, the scale of the 10x developer is chiefly overrated. It was disproven often and shown to be toxic as a benchmark and a goal for individual contributors. Even if 10x developers exist, striving to become one might not be ideal. Perfectly implementing code on the first attempt doesn’t mean you’re solving the right problem.

Who is a Real 10x Engineer?

So, if the 10x developer isn’t the one who codes 10x faster, who are they? Here we list the characteristics that the 10x software engineer should possess:

Coding and Architectural Skills

10x engineers possess excellent coding and IT architecture skills. They know how to use a broad set of tools (coding, testing, integration) and are very productive and fast. They also test the code before deployment and deliver it bug-free.

Focus on the Big Picture and Outcomes

In every aspect, 10x developers are dedicated to achieving the goal: first, understanding the user; second, drafting hypotheses; and finally, solving the problem. 10x developers examine the outcome and decide whether it satisfies the goal. They maintain an unwavering focus on solutions that deliver maximum real-world value.

Problem Solver

10x developers tackle problems with ease. They don’t fade away from solving complex problems, as they’re natural problem-solvers. They leverage deep technical expertise to transform even the most complex challenges into accessible products and services, resulting in significant business impact.

Communicator and Collaborator

A fascinating quality that excellent engineers have in common is that they’re great communicators. They aren’t engineers working in isolation, without interactions. They can communicate effectively to all stakeholders, both technical and non-technical. This open dialogue between the team members results in a happy workplace, thus producing the best ideas. 10x developers also recognize that achieving project objectives takes precedence over individual accolades.

Accept and Provide Feedback

10x developers always accept feedback and are willing to learn from others. There is no rule on who provides the input, so the newest engineer may say something from which the more experienced engineer can learn. 10x developers are receptive to criticism and have no ego so that they can learn from others.

Mentor Younger Developers

The best engineers have one thing in common—they’re all great mentors. They’re prepared to guide other developers in the team and contribute to its success. Therefore, these people are loved by the entire team.

Lifelong Learner

They always stay curious and try to learn new things. 10x developers are perpetual learners, quickly mastering new languages, tools, and techniques. They inherently enjoy the continuous process of expanding their skills.

Humble

Being humble and appreciative is an important quality for achieving success in any field, and it also applies to software engineering. Author and philosopher Ryan Holiday stated that “Ego is the enemy,” but the 10x developers are the most grounded people you will come across. 

Becoming a 10x Engineer

As you now know, being a 10x developer isn’t about being a unicorn or rock star, terms that haven’t aged well when used in technology job posts. Instead, it means working towards better technical and soft skills.

Identify Valuable Problems for Your Business

A key trait of a 10x developer is the ability to discern which problems are worth solving. This involves understanding the business context, target audience, and strategic goals. By identifying valuable problems, you ensure that your efforts align with the organization’s broader objectives and that your work has a meaningful impact.

Key Actions:

• Engage with business stakeholders to understand their pain points and priorities.
• Conduct market research and analyze data to uncover underlying issues and opportunities.
• Prioritize problems based on their potential business impact and feasibility of solutions.

Design a Solution That People Can Use

Once you’ve identified a valuable problem, the next step is to design a user-centric and practical solution. This involves technical proficiency, empathy, and an understanding of user experience principles. Creating solutions that effectively meet user needs can drive adoption and generate value.

Key Actions:

• Collaborate with designers and product managers to create user-friendly interfaces.
• Conduct user testing and incorporate feedback into your design process.
• Focus on simplicity and usability to enhance the user experience.

Gather Feedback to Assess Whether It’s Valuable and Make it Better

This iterative process allows you to refine and improve your solution using real-world applications and user input. Adapting and iterating quickly is a hallmark of a 10x developer.

Key Actions:

• Implement analytics and tracking to monitor how users interact with your solution.
• Collect qualitative feedback through surveys, interviews, and user testing sessions.
• Regularly update and enhance your solution based on the feedback received.

Grow Members on the Team to Be Better at What They Do

A 10x developer amplifies their impact by fostering growth and excellence within their team. By mentoring colleagues, sharing knowledge, and encouraging best practices, you can enhance the capability of your team, leading to better outcomes collectively.

Key Actions:

• Mentor junior developers and provide constructive feedback to help them improve.
• Share your expertise through code reviews, brown bag sessions, and internal workshops.
• Encourage a culture of continuous learning and collaboration among team members.

Utilize Tools to Code Faster

10x developers leverage the right tools to maximize their output and deliver high-quality software swiftly. They master the usage of their IDE and are excellent at using the right tools and frameworks for the right task to streamline their workflow and amplify their coding speed. By harnessing these tools, developers can significantly enhance their productivity and deliver high-quality software swiftly, embodying the true essence of a 10x developer.

Take Ownership

Taking ownership means being fully responsible for the outcomes of your work and seeing projects through to completion. It involves proactively identifying issues, finding solutions, and ensuring that your contributions align with the business goals. A 10x developer takes pride in their work and is dedicated to delivering high-quality results.

Key Actions:

• Own projects from inception to deployment, taking responsibility for each phase.
• Be proactive in identifying and addressing issues before they become significant problems.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders to align on expectations and deliverables.

Experiment and Validate Hypotheses

Experimentation is crucial for innovation and continuous improvement. Validating hypotheses allows you to test assumptions and make data-driven decisions.

Key Actions:

• Lean methodology: Apply lean techniques to build, measure, and learn quickly.
• Hypothesis testing: Develop hypotheses and design experiments to test them. Track results meticulously.
• MVP approach: Build Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) to validate ideas with minimal investment.
• Pivot or Persevere: Use the outcomes of experiments to determine whether to pivot or continue with the current approach.

Engage in a Broad Set of Activities 

A 10x developer isn’t limited to coding. Engaging in a diverse set of activities expands your influence and understanding.

Key Actions:

• Participate in cross-functional team meetings and projects to understand different perspectives.
• Get involved in various stages of product development, from ideation to deployment and maintenance.
• Contribute to open-source projects, attend meetups, and engage with the broader developer community.
• Continuously learn and gain proficiency in different technologies, frameworks, and methodologies.

Focus on Your Strengths and Advantages

You may be good at organizing complex projects to keep them on track. Or perhaps you’re better than your teammates at gathering user requirements, documenting them, and turning them into features. Or you’re good as a DevOps engineer—in deployment and integration tasks. Focus your energy by directing your strengths to progress on projects with the most significant business impact.

Key Actions:

• Identify your strongest skills and areas where you can provide the most value.
• Deepen your expertise in your areas of strength to become the go-to person for those skills.
• Use your unique skills and insights to tackle challenging problems and add value.
• Regularly refine and enhance your strengths while also addressing any critical weaknesses.

Choose a Company With a Strong Engineering Culture

A strong engineering culture assumes the following software habits and practices:

• Adopting Agile practices—by quick iterations, engineers are flexible enough to make daily decisions without asking for permission. Optimized iteration speed also means that there are well-defined processes for launching products. 
• Automating solutions—Automation is essential because it frees up the engineering team to work on the actual product. Automated testing, deployment, and integration enable fast system recovery, allowing teams to manage complexity at scale.
• Shared ownership of code reduces the team's risk in case a developer leaves. It also frees engineers from the sense that they’re stuck on certain projects. Finally, it increases the software’s reliability since multiple eyes are looking at it.
• High-quality code with code reviews—Cleaner code is easier to analyze, quicker to develop, more changeable, and less buggy. A healthy code review process makes this possible. Also, code reviews allow the team to learn from each other.

Is AI the Next 10x Engineer?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be a transformational force in software development, acting as a catalyst that amplifies developers’ capabilities. While AI doesn’t entirely replace the role of 10x developers, it can enhance their productivity and innovation potential. The future points towards a collaborative synergy where AI tools and human developers work together, creating a new development efficiency and creativity paradigm.

In Conclusion

Finding and employing a 10x developer shouldn’t be the primary goal. For most companies, the optimal strategy is to avoid constantly seeking out “the best” engineers in hopes of discovering exceptional talent. Instead, it’s to ensure that the competent engineers you hire and retain perform at their highest potential. This article enlists habits and practices for getting the best from any engineer. And you should aim for the overall team’s excellent performance. The organizations that can elevate ordinary teams to high-performing ones will be the ultimate winners, along with their engineers. If you find a 10x engineer, that would be a super bonus.

That’s why Axify measures teams instead of individual performance. Any software engineering team can improve on past performances to deliver updates more frequently and with more quality. An excellent place to start is DORA metrics. These metrics provide a standardized measure of software delivery performance backed by extensive research.

The DORA metrics include:

• Deployment Frequency: How often an organization successfully releases to production.
• Lead Time for Changes: The time it takes for a commit to get into production.
• Change Failure Rate: The percentage of deployments causing a failure in production.
• Failed Deployment Recovery Time (also now as time to restore service and mean time to recovery (MTTR): How long it takes to recover from a failure in production.

Axify measuring team performance aligns with a broader perspective on what drives successful software delivery. By leveraging DORA metrics, teams can target key performance areas and transform incrementally, ultimately achieving high speed, reliability, and quality standards in software delivery.

While individual skills are vital, the combined effort and interaction of the team members pave the way for sustainable success and continuous improvement.