For the most part there aren’t 10x engineers
replyBut there are certainly 0.1x engineers
The study that defined the 10x engineer defined him as 10x as good as the worst engineer. If there is a 0.1x engineer, and a 1x engineer, that 1x engineer is the very definition of a 10x engineer.
replyI've long thought a 10x engineer is one with just the right amount of analysis paralysis - not too much or too little. It's not that they're 10x engineers, it's that everyone else is 0.1x due to a confluence of reasons. And the ones we call 0.1x are 0.01x.
replyThere certainly are 10x engineers just that they get most of the x from turning down bad ideas and saving work.
replyand -10x
replyEven if we forget "rockstar", there are certainly different levels of engineers. More experience doesn't automatically mean better either. That is not to say experience doesn't matter. It matters quite a bit.
Sure , good interns can sometimes have good feedback or spot mistakes. But not consistently enough.
replyAll of this to say that it's not just experience that makes one a better engineer.
Experience is one of the only objective signals we have, but you're right it's not the only one. I've seen plenty great junior engineers and interns, and plenty of incompetent staff/principal engineers.
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