How to become a 10x developer:

Let’s start by asking,
“What is a 10x developer?”

Put simply, a highly productive individual who produces about 10 times the work as your average developer. Often their advanced levels of productivity expand beyond work and into their daily lives. While the rest of us subscribe to productivity blogs and read articles like “How to become a 10x developer”, they just seem to have it all together. That drive and focus is attractive to business which leads to a focus on identifying the traits these individuals possess in order to hire better.

This idea started from the first ever study on developer performance in 1966 by Ht. Sackman, J. Brikeon, and E. E. Grant.

“These studies revealed large individual differences between high and low performers, often by an order of magnitude. Techniques measuring individual programing skills should be vigorously pursued, tested and evaluated, and developed on a broad front for the growing variety of programing jobs.”

Who are these 10x’ers?

A 10x’er will often rise to the top in their company. If you work with software developers, chances are that you can think of at least one person who you have questioned if they are secretly an alien who has come down to earth to bless your company with their presence.

Why are they like this?

Well, the why has caused a lot of discussions. There are two main arguments that we will focus on. The first being that these 10x’ers must just be super geniuses and we have no hope of understanding why they produce so much. While this claim could be valid, it offers no benefit to the average developer looking to increase their productivity.

While talent is likely a factor, the other and more practical argument is that these 10x developers are a product of experience, traits, habits, and environment. If we assume this second argument is true, then we can start to examine how these developers achieve such substantial success.

Here are 5 fundamental steps to become a 10x developer:

Step 1: Always be the dumbest person in the room.

This may sound counterintuitive, but to quote entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker Jim Rohn:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” — Jim Rohn

If you want a be a 10x developer, surround yourself with developers who can inspire and teach you to be better. Study them and find out what they are doing on a daily basis to enhance their knowledge and increase their own productivity. We all start from the bottom. While there are many different paths to the top, there are no shortcuts. A 10x developer became effective by constant improvement and learning to become the best in their field.

Step 2: Always dedicate time to learning

In the study mentioned earlier, an additional conclusion was presented:

“This situation suggests that general programing skill may dominate early training and initial on-the-job experience, but that such skill is progressively transformed and displaced by more specialized skills with increasing experience.”

While pointing out that learning is a fundamental step to becoming a 10x’er may sound trivial, it’s no secret that constant learning is an essential factor in becoming an effective developer.

Notice how I said an effective developer and not an efficient developer. Just like every other job learning can help with efficiency. The difference here is that learning is a crucial variable in the life and work of a developer.

We cannot talk about learning as a developer without mentioning Stack Overflow.

“Founded in 2008, Stack Overflow is the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. More than 50 million professional and aspiring programmers visit Stack Overflow each month to help solve coding problems, develop new skills, and find job opportunities.”

Stack Overflow has been the go to site for developer learning for almost a decade. Approximately 8000 questions get asked every day. Stack Overflow has a dedicated community of developers helping other developers.

If you don’t have the 10x’ers around you to complete step 1, then you can use Stack Overflow. Not only can you post any questions that you may have, but it is an indispensable resource for studying how good developers solve both simple and complex problems. By browsing different questions and answers you can learn new tricks and tips that will set you apart from your peers.

The secret here is to spend more time learning and using that knowledge than the people around you.

“A “10x engineer” is, afterall, an incredible misnomer. A 10x engineer is not necessarily 10 times more productive — they are just “next level” better engineers who in some contexts are 1.5x and sometimes 100x better, depending on the difficulty of the task and leverage of the outcome. But post software foundation, when software looks more like Legos and less like artisan craftsmanship, the relative output multiple of the “10x” engineer working on top of the foundation moves closer to one.” — Sam Gerstenz

Step 3: Improve your problem solving skills

Eric Elliott conducted a survey back in January and asked 1000 developers: “What Makes Some Devs 10x Better Than Others?”. The majority agreed that problem solving is the #1 trait.

Problem solving is a skill that can be improved through practice. Here are a few ways you can increase your problem solving:

• Practice coding problems on a site like codewars.com
• Get a book of logic puzzles, sudoku, or daily crosswords
• Work on defining problems, rather than trying to think of solutions

Get curious. Start asking more questions that you wouldn’t normally ask. Even about trivial things in your daily life such as: Why do fingers and toes wrinkle when left in water?

Step 4: Be Passionate

Some of the top companies in the tech industry (Slack, Instagram, Twitter) started as side projects. Someone decided to scratch their own itch and build something they were passionate about. Passion bring inspiration, motivation, and happiness. “Working for the weekend” is no way to live and significantly hinders productivity.

“You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.” — Steve Jobs

Being passionate about what you are working on does not mean that you will live with Hakuna Matata, but that you face every problem with the end goal in mind. The idea of what you are creating should excite you, and drive you to face every difficult step with courage and determination.

The importance of passion extend far beyond what you are working on. It also includes where you are working and who you are working with. The growing trend in the tech industry is to create a workspace with office games, bean bags, and puppies. While some companies go a little overboard and the whole idea may seem superfluous, the truth behind the matter is that the environment you work in can greatly impact your mood, energy level, and health.

Step 5: Get Sh*t Done

At GitClear, one of our core principles is to Get Sh*t Done, and boy do we live that. With all the other steps in place, you are setup to unleash the inner monster and become the 10x’er you desire to be. As mentioned earlier, there are no shortcuts. The best way to the top of the mountain is to start hiking. No one is going to come down in an hot air balloon and lift you up to the top.

The place you end up is the culmination of the efforts that you have taken to get there. Put in the work and the results will come. It won’t be fast and it won’t be easy, but with the right mindset anything is possible.