The real 10x developer makes their whole team better
Single individuals make less of a difference to the success or failure of a technology project than you might think (and that’s a good thing).
We’re all familiar with the concept of the 10x engineer or developer: “the nerdy, antisocial genius who makes groundbreaking products almost by accident,” per one description. People love to cite my hometown hero Steve Wozniak as an example of this character: the superdev who’s ten times smarter or more productive than their so-called peers. The 10x developer attracts mythos, not to mention VC funding.
But one thing you learn working at Stack Overflow is that single individuals make less of a difference to the success or failure of a technology project than you might think (and that’s a good thing, or burnout levels would be off the charts). What really makes a difference is the quality of the social learning communities your employees have access to.
Instead of an engineer who’s an order of magnitude “better” than their peers, leaders should look for people who are willing and able to learn—and to help their whole team learn and execute, too. After all, your organization should be more powerful than any one person.
