One of the reasons the code-test LeetCode HackerRank style interview process started was because of the myth that there were 10x developers, and that, by interviewing well, you could fill your big tech company with just those top performers.
And that's how we got here.
And, chances are, most companies will stay here.
But, if your company interviews differently, then in my experience, you can get a huge productivity advantage.
00:00 Video Intro
00:20 Channel Intro
00:34 Categories of programmers for our purposes
04:16 The Original. Flawed, 1960s Experiment
06:00 A few truths underlying the myth
07:48 Context for the argument in the video
08:29 My argument against 10x developers in corp settings
09:49 Not a skill issue, and not something LeetCode can detect
12:00 What LeetCode might select for at many companies
13:03 The advantage companies can have without LeetCode
14:21 A better focus, according to me, not that it will matter
16:03 This one neat trick for better productivity
17:28 Back full circle to where we started
Links from the video:
The Mythical Man Month:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
Great book - highly recommended. I didn't talk much about it in this video, but i'm sure it will come up in the future.
Original Paper that used toy programs to invent the 10x myth:
https://web.eecs.umich.edu/~weimerw/481/readings/productivity-performance.pdf
Modern paper dispelling the 10x myth:
https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/blog/programmer-moneyball-challenging-the-myth-of-individual-programmer-productivity/