How to Be a 10x Software Engineer

3 common mistakes junior engineers make. Are you making them?

10x engineers are fact. Bigfoot is not.

The best engineers are 10x better than an average engineer. Like a one man army, they deliver more value, faster, by themselves, than a team of junior engineers combined.

But how could that be? Isn’t more always better?

In my time as an engineering lead at Netflix and Amazon, I’ve worked with both new grad interns all the way up to principal engineers (L7 and above at Amazon) and I can attest that 10x engineers do exist. I can also confidently say they aren’t:

• typing 10x faster
• working 10x the hours
• writing 10x more code

In fact, 10x engineers might type at half the speed, work half the amount, and spend more time DELETING code rather than writing it.

10x engineers tend to be better at LeetCode too, but it’s not what sets them apart.

The difference between the best engineers and junior engineers boils down to an issue of mindset. They use the right tools, ask the right questions, and know how to prioritize. Skills that have little to do with coding that even non-technical people can develop.