We just can’t forget that other people are human and therefore deeply flawed. He too was only human, getting pissed off

Many of us had our moments of completing 4 times the story points in half the amount of time, with more unit test coverage and higher code quality while also producing fewer bugs, equivalent to 10 times compared to more Junior peers. Or even against a peer with equal experience, who has to deal with severe technical debt or who has less domain knowledge.

What we produced was an application with virtually no defects, was very performant, was easily extendible, and was later reused in other future projects. In many ways, it was one of the biggest technical successes I’ve witnessed from start to finish.

Combining my ability to handle any technically difficult task thrown at me, and the fact that Mitch was generally much smarter than I was, Gary was always able to push out more high-quality code than the both of us. This, despite being occupied half of the time in meetings with both vertical and horizontal management, shaping and documenting our new standard processes, or helping and mentoring us. I’m still not sure how he managed this level of productivity with so little time, as he ensured nobody on our team was putting in after-hours work, including himself.

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rence codebase of functions and methods you end up using a lot. One important thing to consider while choosing your personal projects is how it relates to your domain. And that means this is when you start building your portfolio for potential employers.

How would we fare with all things being equal? Comparing against a similar amount of both technical and domain experience, using the same tools, in the same codebase, dealing with the same technical debt, adopting the same philosophies, processes, and design patterns, against properly estimated tasks, there will still be gaps where one Developer is more productive than another — but probably not by a factor of ten.

Sometimes corporate politics can make work feel like madness if you’re the type who pays attention. I suspect it was a factor when Gary took his leave for personal reasons, with no intention of working elsewhere. Mitch also left not a year after that, with no particular job lined up. It’s a powerful statement when your most talented employees up and quit with no safety net. If that’s not a wake-up call for any company, then their management will slumber indefinitely into oblivion. Or it simply means they have bigger problems.

Several years later, I still carry forward the values I’ve learned on Gary’s team onto roles at other companies, and have since been more outspoken. My performance at other companies has been directly proportional to my ability to apply these values in another work environment.

It’s important that I feel like a little spoon at all times, which requires at least a five-inch height difference. This will allow me to gain a bit of weight (something I can do but you probably shouldn’t) and still feel small in comparison.

You can’t fault a guy for being factually correct, based on collective professional experience, using widely proven standards and established techniques. In comparison, I’m sure it looked from Gary’s point of view that we were operating like a bunch of amateurs. It’s understandable to want your team to reach that expert-level caliber of the “software professional”.

I don’t trust people that don’t like kids and I don’t completely trust myself to have them. On the off chance we do have little baby alien humans, you must be a magnificent father because I will be a mediocre mother at best.

Some could debate whether this guy was really a 10x programmer. Maybe that is 10x compared to developers who are using anti-patterns which are proven to be counterproductive.

The point is, being better than everyone else isn’t what matters. What matters more is elevating those around you. There’s no excuse to have such lopsided performance in your team or department. Those who can mentor should do so, and those who need mentoring should receive it. Barriers to productivity should be identified, addressed, and prevented from repeat so that everyone can be productive, and not just the rockstars.

Despite having several years of prior programming experience, the two years I spent on Gary’s team were key in shaping me into what I believe is a healthy baseline for all Senior Developers. This was done by shedding off years-long habits which although common, are also unproductive and sometimes even nasty. We replaced them with discerning deliberation, and of course, using advanced tools and more effective processes. Last but not least, having all the developers’ values aligned is key in having a harmonious team and codebase.

I had to more quickly grow to help fill in the gaps those two had left, and while I did become the model of a very high performer, I eventually parted ways with the company as well. I was there for its golden years, and while I still feel gratitude towards the company for kickstarting my professional career, we simply grew apart.

Gary’s parting words of advice to me were: “you need to speak up more often”. Looking back to all those hours in the war room, Gary and Mitch being the dominant talkers with superior intellect — they barely gave me a chance to speak sometimes — but when I did say something, it was meaningful, and often was an important point.