

At its core, 10x software development is about efficiency.
Itโs about eliminating any unnecessary steps to come up with a 10x solution faster.
Thatโs why the distinction of being a โ10x engineerโ is held in such high esteem.
โOK, but what is the 10x engineer definition?โ
A 10x engineer is a software developer whoโs 10x times more talented than the average one and is also able to be as productive as 10 software developers.
Contrary to what every engineer tells you, there are not many 10x engineers. Like the billion-dollar startup, they are unicorns.
In this guide, weโre going to teach you how to define a 10x engineer.
And if you take notes and adopt the common traits that 10x developers share, chances are youโll be able to become one of them and also receive a 10x engineer salary.
Amazing, right?
Letโs dive in.
Defining a 10x engineer is not easy, largely because the definition of a 10x programmer is variable depending on who you talk to. Based on our research, hereโs a list of common traits that were brought up repeatedly when describing a 10x engineer.
10x programmers are:
Curious and always learning.Not just great engineers themselves, but they elevate the work of everyone around them.Able to dive in and learn new codebases with faster ramp up times.Great at recognizing patterns and replacing procedural code with simple, beautiful methods.The best at debugging code. They donโt need to waste time, because they ID problems quickly and come up with a 10x solution faster than your average programmer.Extremely well versed in a broad range of languages,ย tools, and algorithms.Able to quickly recommend the best technical solution based on risk vs. benefit.Always coding. Not just at work, but on their own time.Looking at the whole picture and can anticipate and avoid problems.Also paid a 10x engineer salary.
Now that you know what distinguishes a 10x engineer from a regular Joe, how can you improve your skills to become a 10x engineer so you can get to see a silicon valley engineer salary first hand?
10x devs arenโt experts in just one language. They are knowledgeable in many different languages.
Understanding many different programming languages is valuable because it gives you a deeper understanding of the different solutions you could use to fix a problem.
10x programmers are passionate about software development and are always experimenting outside of work to createย 10x software.
They have a genuine desire to learn new languages, even if they might not use it daily.
This increased knowledge of code will help them when it comes to debugging other peopleโs code.
Instead of rewriting someone elseโs codebase, which many programmers would prefer to do, 10x engineers can quickly assess the problems with an unfamiliar codebase and fix them.
This canโt be done with limited coding knowledge.
Know your tools
A 10x engineer is naturally curious and always learning new bits of information.
This is helpful because it opens the mind to alternative options.
Instead of being stuck in one method or technology (which is dictated by the tools you know), a 10x programmer can use their vast knowledge of tools to determine which tool will make the task much, much easier and faster to complete.
With the rightย tools, the 10x engineer can do the work of โ10 engineersโ, because they are so much more efficient with their time and execution. While an average engineer might be fumbling their way through a process, a 10xer has already streamlined it and is two steps ahead.
You see, the thing with 10x programmers is that they are able to break big tasks into small chunks.
Thus, they can get a rough estimate of how long a project will take to be fully completed. Which allows them to be more efficient with their time.
And honestly, thatโs not an easy thing to do.
Iโve seen so many newbies that are unable to break their biggers tasks into smaller pieces due to lack of experience.
The results are disastrousโฆ
They get overwhelmed, mind-boggled, stressed, unproductiveโฆ
And when that happens, well, you can easily get fired for not being able to produce quality code.
So how do you prevent this from happening?
Well, the first thing is that you need to find the rightย toolsย for your team to use.
You should also avoid complex softwareโฆ chaotic issue trackersโฆ and inefficient team communication tools.
Youโll only waste your money on these, and instead of helping you, theyโll actually slow down your entire work processโฆ which can put you out of business.
You should be striving for straightforward and intuitiveย toolsย so that you can speed up your teamโs performance by being able to break your tasks into small chunks and implement them fast so you can receive immediate feedback.
NOTE:ย You can refer toย this guideย byย ClickUpย on the best project management tools for agile development.
No one lives in a vacuum.
Excellent products and great companies are not built by one person.
Teams build excellent products and collectively make up great companies.
In order to be a 10x engineer, you have to be able to work together with many different people.
Even people that arenโt as skilled as you. If youโre unable to work with others, even if youโre a wonderfully talented engineer, you wonโt get far.
Not getting along with your team doesnโt just make for an unpleasant work environment, it will actually have an adverse effect on morale.
If youโre a โcancer to the team,โ youโre not going to last long. Like in basketball, great players arenโt just great themselves; they make everyone around them better as well.
Itโs easy to focus solely on your task, but a 10x engineer is going to think about the bigger picture.
Expand your mind and look at the real problem youโre trying to solve. It isnโt about today, itโs about 5 or even 10 months from now.
A 10x engineer is thinking three to four steps down the road.
Theyโre determining if the current process and strategy will lead to difficult problems later.
What works today with your 100 customers isnโt going to work when you have 1,000,000 customers.
A 10x engineer is thinking about ways to prevent a technical catastrophe in scenarios like this.
Youโll save time and money down the line if youโre not constantly rebuilding features. The vision of the product should be taken into account from the beginning and is exactly what a 10x engineer would do.
You donโt want to waste time on irrelevant tasks, right? Thatโs right.
Whatโs special about the 10x engineers is that they can organize their time flawlessly.
They useย the best issue trackersย to manage their tasksโฆ to communicate effectively with their teammatesโฆ and are also productive while writing code.
Surely, thatโs not an easy thing to do. But practice makes perfect.
And thatโs pretty much how you get to be a 10x engineer โ non-stop practice.
Surely, you wonโt be able to organize your assignments from day 1 like a proโฆ
โฆ but if you continue to practice every single day, your productivity will highly improve, and thatโs for real.
The ability to clearly see whatโs on the table and prioritize tasks is part of the equation too, so donโt ignore it.
If you want to get to Los Angeles from New York, the most efficient way to get there is a direct flight from JFK to LAX, right? Correct.
You could also take a flight with a layover in Atlanta, Georgia.
Or, if youโre feeling adventurous, you could drive across the country in a car to get to Los Angeles.
The point being, just because you found a solution to a problem doesnโt mean itโs the best solution.
A 10x engineer will figure out the โdirect flightโ option to each problem.
Instead of writing over-complicated code, a 10xer will implement elegant 10x solutions that will accomplish tasks in fewer steps.
This goes back to thinking about the big picture. When youโre looking at problems from a high level and can anticipate future problems, then youโre not going to hack together something that just works today. Efficiency will reign supreme.
Youโve heard that before, no doubt about it.
But thereโs a difference between just hearing about it and taking action, right?
Thatโs right.
Even though a 10x engineer has a large set of skills and can write super complex code leaving you mind-boggledโฆ he doesnโt do it.
He doesnโt do it because he knows that coming up with a complex solution isnโt a 10x solution.
If nobody on the team canโt get it, then whatโs the point?
Oh, and complex code lines typically tend to cause big problems down the road.
So try to keep it simple. Try to make it understandable for your teammates. Thus you will be able to make your whole team 10x times betterโฆ and release great features faster than your competitors do!
Youโll be 10x times more valuable to your entire team and your company in general if you are able to help your teammates to perfectly see whatโs on the table and whatโs the next important step of the project you are working on.
Sometimes the best way to learn is to build.
10xers are building stuff in their free time, and they love it.
The extra hours working on their own projects allows them to experiment with different languages, databases, and tools.
The more code theyโre exposed to, the quicker theyโre able to read and process it. It takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything.
Stop thinking about how to become a 10xer and just go out and build stuff! While youโre at it, break it too!
The fastest way to becoming a 10xer is to get your 10,000 hours of programming in.
This will enable you to perfect your skills and increase your ability to consume and process technical information.
No one became an expert overnight, nor between the hours of 9โ5. If you really want to become a 10x engineer, youโre going to have to dive in and learn.
10x engineers donโt actually call themselves 10x engineers. They go out and crush it.
They build great products, solve hard problems, and make everyone around them better. Theyโre not just better, theyโre faster than your average software engineer. Youโll just know a 10xer programmer when you see how they produceย 10x software.
Might sound tough, but there is no other way around it.
So many developers these days arenโt able to take responsibility for their own mistakesโฆ
They always blame it on othersโฆ
โJohnny didnโt deliver the code on timeโ, โMike was working on a different taskโ, etc.
You need to realize something:
No matter where you are right now and where you have been in the pastโฆ itโs all on you.
No one is going to take care of you.
Take responsibility for your actions. Literally, for everything.
Go talk to Johnny and Mike. Donโt just wait for things to get fixed out of the blue. Make something happen.
If you take responsibility for your actions and for everything that is happening around you, youโll soon realize things will shift into another better direction, and youโll have a full 100% control over your life.
(Iโve been living by this principle my entire life.)
The point being, even if you make mistakesโฆ take it to the chin, see whatโs happening and what you can do about it and continue moving forward.
You see, there are so many developers out there (and people in general) that once they find a solution to a very complex problem, their confidence and cocky attitude goes through the roof.
And thatโs the biggest pitfall you might stumble across. And itโs tough. No one wants to find himself in such a situation.
In order to avoid it, you need to stay humble.
Yes, you might be good, even great, but donโt let pride slow you down.
Continue learningโฆ continue listening to othersโ solutionsโฆ and never stop innovating.
If you are able to stay humble, your greatness as a developer will absolutely be noticed, and only then will you understand how much do silicon valley engineers make.
Stay grounded!
Becoming a 10x developer is hard, and thereโs no arguing about it.
But if you have the willingness to put in the hard workโฆ and to constantly learnโฆ and to take it to the chin when things donโt go the way you planned them, then youโll definitely make tremendous progress.
You
Dedicating yourself to writing code all the time will ensure that you are going to be one hell of an engineer. Anyone will pay top dollar to hire you. Why wouldnโt they? You are a unicorn.
And remember! Being a 10x engineer is not just about you. Itโs about your whole team. Itโs about bringing your team to the next level and everyone becoming 10x times better than they were before.
P.S. Oh, and by the way, something off topic:
If you are open to trying a similar platform to GitHub and GitLab, you can head to Codegiant (where this post was first published). We pretty much have all the features GitLab offers and we exceed at having an intuitive interface. Feel free to check us out ;)
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