Comment by thwy12321
7 years ago
"Interesting to see the genesis of the myth of the 10x programmer."
How could it be a myth? Ever see a professional sports player compete against a non professional player? Why wouldnt this dynamic exist in programming?
Maybe I'm unimaginative, but in sports where performance is objectively comparable, I can't think of any where professionals 10x amateurs.
Amateur marathons are about 4 hours, professional are about 2 hours. Amateur deadlifts are about 500lb, professional are about 1000lb. Amateur long jump might be 6m, professional almost 9m.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi are extreme outliers in soccer/football, even compared to other greats. They're probably 10x. Trouble is amateurs don't play in the big leagues, so we don't have data on how a normal person would peform. There is an amusing Ronaldo vs Ronald video. I think it's called "Tested to the Limit."
Occasionally a 1st league team plays a 3rd league. I saw a video of Napoli vs Nowhere go 26-0. They scored about as fast as the game could be reset to kick-off. That's more than 10x.
You are confusing game scoring with some concept of "x times ability". In many games, someone who is only 10% better than opponents can win close to 100% of the games.
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