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Hackernoon logoHow to 10X Your Code [And Your Salary] by@momchil

How to 10X Your Code [And Your Salary]

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@momchilMomchil

Product Growth at Codegiant

At its core, 10x software development is about efficiency.

Itโ€™s about eliminating any unnecessary steps to come up with a 10x solution faster.

Thatโ€™s why the distinction of being a โ€œ10x engineerโ€ is held in such high esteem.

โ€œOK, but what is the 10x engineer definition?โ€

A 10x engineer is a software developer whoโ€™s 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, weโ€™re 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 youโ€™ll be able to become one of them and also receive a 10x engineer salary.

Amazing, right?

Letโ€™s dive in.

Who Is a 10X Engineer?

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, hereโ€™s 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 donโ€™t 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.

How Do I Become A 10X Engineer?

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?

1. 10X Developers Constantly Expand Their Coding Knowledge

10x devs arenโ€™t 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 peopleโ€™s code.

Instead of rewriting someone elseโ€™s codebase, which many programmers would prefer to do, 10x engineers can quickly assess the problems with an unfamiliar codebase and fix them.

This canโ€™t be done with limited coding knowledge.

Know your tools

2. 10X Engineers Know Many Tools That Allow Them To Code Faster

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 โ€œ10 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.

3. 10X Developers Know How To Plan Their Tasks

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, thatโ€™s not an easy thing to do.

Iโ€™ve seen so many newbies that are unable to break their biggers tasks into smaller pieces due to lack of experience.

The results are disastrousโ€ฆ

They get overwhelmed, mind-boggled, stressed, unproductiveโ€ฆ

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 softwareโ€ฆ chaotic issue trackersโ€ฆ and inefficient team communication tools.

Youโ€™ll only waste your money on these, and instead of helping you, theyโ€™ll actually slow down your entire work processโ€ฆ which can put you out of business.

You should be striving for straightforward and intuitiveย toolsย so that you can speed up your teamโ€™s 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.

4. 10X Software Engineers Know How To Communicate Well

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 arenโ€™t as skilled as you. If youโ€™re unable to work with others, even if youโ€™re a wonderfully talented engineer, you wonโ€™t get far.

Not getting along with your team doesnโ€™t just make for an unpleasant work environment, it will actually have an adverse effect on morale.

If youโ€™re a โ€œcancer to the team,โ€ youโ€™re not going to last long. Like in basketball, great players arenโ€™t just great themselves; they make everyone around them better as well.

5. 10X Developers See The Bigger Picture

Itโ€™s 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 youโ€™re trying to solve. It isnโ€™t about today, itโ€™s about 5 or even 10 months from now.

A 10x engineer is thinking three to four steps down the road.

Theyโ€™re determining if the current process and strategy will lead to difficult problems later.

What works today with your 100 customers isnโ€™t 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.

Youโ€™ll save time and money down the line if youโ€™re 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.

6. Prioritizing Is What Makes 10X Engineers To Stand Out!

You donโ€™t want to waste time on irrelevant tasks, right? Thatโ€™s right.

Whatโ€™s special about the 10x engineers is that they can organize their time flawlessly.

They useย the best issue trackersย to manage their tasksโ€ฆ to communicate effectively with their teammatesโ€ฆ and are also productive while writing code.

Surely, thatโ€™s not an easy thing to do. But practice makes perfect.

And thatโ€™s pretty much how you get to be a 10x engineer โ€” non-stop practice.

Surely, you wonโ€™t be able to organize your assignments from day 1 like a proโ€ฆ

โ€ฆ but if you continue to practice every single day, your productivity will highly improve, and thatโ€™s for real.

The ability to clearly see whatโ€™s on the table and prioritize tasks is part of the equation too, so donโ€™t ignore it.

7. 10X Developers Understand That All Solutions Are Not Equal

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 youโ€™re 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 doesnโ€™t mean itโ€™s the best solution.

A 10x engineer will figure out the โ€œdirect 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 youโ€™re looking at problems from a high level and can anticipate future problems, then youโ€™re not going to hack together something that just works today. Efficiency will reign supreme.

8. A 10X Engineer Keeps It Simple Stupid

Youโ€™ve heard that before, no doubt about it.

But thereโ€™s a difference between just hearing about it and taking action, right?

Thatโ€™s right.

Even though a 10x engineer has a large set of skills and can write super complex code leaving you mind-boggledโ€ฆ he doesnโ€™t do it.

He doesnโ€™t do it because he knows that coming up with a complex solution isnโ€™t a 10x solution.

If nobody on the team canโ€™t get it, then whatโ€™s 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 betterโ€ฆ and release great features faster than your competitors do!

Youโ€™ll 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 whatโ€™s on the table and whatโ€™s the next important step of the project you are working on.

9. 10X Engineers Know How To Build and Break Stuff

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 theyโ€™re exposed to, the quicker theyโ€™re 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 youโ€™re 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 9โ€“5. If you really want to become a 10x engineer, youโ€™re going to have to dive in and learn.

10x engineers donโ€™t actually call themselves 10x engineers. They go out and crush it.

They build great products, solve hard problems, and make everyone around them better. Theyโ€™re not just better, theyโ€™re faster than your average software engineer. Youโ€™ll just know a 10xer programmer when you see how they produceย 10x software.

10. A Real 10X Developer Can Take It To The Chin

Might sound tough, but there is no other way around it.

So many developers these days arenโ€™t able to take responsibility for their own mistakesโ€ฆ

They always blame it on othersโ€ฆ

โ€œJohnny didnโ€™t deliver the code on timeโ€, โ€œMike 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 pastโ€ฆ itโ€™s 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. Donโ€™t 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, youโ€™ll soon realize things will shift into another better direction, and youโ€™ll have a full 100% control over your life.

(Iโ€™ve been living by this principle my entire life.)

The point being, even if you make mistakesโ€ฆ take it to the chin, see whatโ€™s happening and what you can do about it and continue moving forward.

11. 10x Engineers Stay Humble

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 thatโ€™s the biggest pitfall you might stumble across. And itโ€™s 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 donโ€™t let pride slow you down.

Continue learningโ€ฆ continue listening to othersโ€™ solutionsโ€ฆ 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!

Conclusion

Becoming a 10x developer is hard, and thereโ€™s no arguing about it.

But if you have the willingness to put in the hard workโ€ฆ and to constantly learnโ€ฆ and to take it to the chin when things donโ€™t go the way you planned them, then youโ€™ll 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 wouldnโ€™t they? You are a unicorn.

And remember! Being a 10x engineer is not just about you. Itโ€™s about your whole team. Itโ€™s 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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