I know "10x engineers" exist; some people are fakes and put forward things that look like they have high impact but are actually a bit shoddy.
Some people like to be present and suck up.
But some people really do just work hard, smart and have deep passion for what they're doing- and importantly: pride, which makes the quality of the content great too.
Some of the best engineers I know "visit" bits of code or infrastructure and afterwards it's a pleasure to use and rarely if ever has weird bugs, and if they do have bugs they're easy to root out.
What I'm trying to say is: high performers exist. But your organisation shouldn't be resting on the shoulders of those people.
People leave. If your 10x (or 3x or 5x) engineer quits: are you really going to hire 3,5 or 10 people to replace them? Unlikely. And even if you do, institutional knowledge is lost.
It's not a myth they exist, but you shouldn't depend on them.
Some people like to be present and suck up.
But some people really do just work hard, smart and have deep passion for what they're doing- and importantly: pride, which makes the quality of the content great too.
Some of the best engineers I know "visit" bits of code or infrastructure and afterwards it's a pleasure to use and rarely if ever has weird bugs, and if they do have bugs they're easy to root out.
What I'm trying to say is: high performers exist. But your organisation shouldn't be resting on the shoulders of those people.
People leave. If your 10x (or 3x or 5x) engineer quits: are you really going to hire 3,5 or 10 people to replace them? Unlikely. And even if you do, institutional knowledge is lost.
It's not a myth they exist, but you shouldn't depend on them.