> That's how 10x engineers exist, by the time they are 30, they have roughly 20 years of programming experience behind their belt instead of 10.
This is a relatively small part of it.
The majority of developers who have been programming for 20 years, maybe learned a few tricks along the way then got stuck in a local maximum.
There are a few who learn deep computer science principles and understand how to apply them to novel problems. I'm thinking of techniques like in this book:
(mainly because Peter Norvig is my goto as the paradigmatic 10x developer)
For example, in the Efficiency Issues chapter about how to optimize programs, Norvig lists writing a compiler from one language into a more efficient one. Most developers who have been working 20 years, either won't think of that, or understand how to implement it. But these are the kinds of things that can result in really outsize productivity gains.
This is a relatively small part of it.
The majority of developers who have been programming for 20 years, maybe learned a few tricks along the way then got stuck in a local maximum.
There are a few who learn deep computer science principles and understand how to apply them to novel problems. I'm thinking of techniques like in this book:
https://www.everand.com/book/282526076/Paradigms-of-Artifici...
(mainly because Peter Norvig is my goto as the paradigmatic 10x developer)
For example, in the Efficiency Issues chapter about how to optimize programs, Norvig lists writing a compiler from one language into a more efficient one. Most developers who have been working 20 years, either won't think of that, or understand how to implement it. But these are the kinds of things that can result in really outsize productivity gains.