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September 18, 2024 15 mins

If you've ever been jealous of programmers who seem to write code faster than you - take heart. The myth of the "10x programmer" is misunderstood in many software teams and tech companies.

What's important to companies is NOT that you're actually 10x faster at writing code. It's that you help the company produce features 10 times faster. Wake up call - you're not the only member of the team!

Over my career, I've met software developers who come into companies and write code super fast - but end up slowing the project down. They bossed around the other junior developers and thought they were God's gift to programming. It was a real disaster.

Instead, use these 6 techniques I learned as a software consultant. They'll speed up the project, make you popular on your team, get results for your company - and actually make your tech job easier! Besides, what's more important: that you can write code fast, or that you can avoid writing more code in the first place?

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You can also watch this episode on YouTube

Chapter markers / timelinks:

(0:00) Introduction
(1:36) 6 Techniques Used By True 10x Programmers
(1:50) 1. Technological Empathy
(3:29) 2. Negotiate Streamlined Features
(5:06) 3. Cross-Technical Insight
(7:59) 4. Reject Ambiguity
(9:42) 5. Minimize Architectural Complexity
(11:53) 6. Document Innovation

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

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