Just to share somewhat of a "corollary" to this: if you get into one of such institutions, chances are there already is a "10x developer" and chances are those environments are the kind of environments where a few people (or maybe a single person) can monopolize the decision making process (because they are regarded as the 10x developer).
So think twice about pursuing such environments: very often it's not the other team members that are utter shit... Is that the "10x engineer" is making that work environment toxic and not worth staying for other "10x engineer" (but also for "15x engineers" and "35x engineers" who only lack the context about that specific domain).
So the logic is actually inverse: those environments very often will only retain a manipulative/toxic/narcissistic "10x engineer" and a bunch of people that are okay with doing whatever and getting the paycheck at the end of the month (and get, maybe wrongly, referred to as "utter shits").
I was great in a crisis in dev/IT, and always said 'sure, we can do that', which got me to the top. You know who you want at the top? Not the person that thrives on crisis, but the person that hates it and goes to great length to ensure stability and prevent it. Luckily I realized that and empowered the guy I inherited who was on a 'PIP' plan because he was always the 'we can't do it', went too slow, let's think this through guy.
This is making me reflect about my current work. Prior to reading this I used to think that our tech lead just happened to have the best ideas but now I’m just not sure anymore. Do they have the best ideas or did they master the politics necessary to push their ideas up the stack and everybody else doesn't care enough? I wonder…
Corollary to this: if you find that there is one engineer monopolizing the entire decision-making process, perhaps it's because everyone else is utter shit, and said engineer is tired of having to deal with the insanity of maintaining non-sense thought up by mercurial incompetents without a semblance of technical ability? Perhaps these "toxic behaviors" are a coping strategy to deal with an organization that is woefully unskilled compared to said engineer? Perhaps the only way to necessitate one's career growth in such places is to wrangle what one would consider are actual toddlers, who simply do not care at all about the tech (incredibly common in non-tech orgs).
Perhaps said engineer would be happy to share the glory and fun work, if you made friends, demonstrated competency and initiative, and learned to play the (fucking) game?
Before anyone dismisses this for tone, this is remarkably realistic.
This is/was me. Working on that.
I was the one to call the shots. Joined years ago, took a thing from lab to a real household product, ran out of steam, then left once the fiefdoms started settling in.
I noticed the impact it had both personally and externally, leaving was an act of care for everyone. I'm still burned out.
I joined a new place and made an ass out of myself in the last couple months, because of this coping mechanism. I'm preconditioned to throw elbows.
Fortunately most around me seem to have realized and allowed me room to learn to be human again.
I appreciate the healthier dynamics. I'm just trying to learn to participate again in good faith. It was taken from me.
The last place was so dysfunctional that me, the effective/favored SRE, was leading literally by consequence - in several senses.
> perhaps it's because everyone else is utter shit
This is entirely never true, my dude/dudette.
It literally never happens that only a single person is smart and everybody else is an idiot.
If one thinks that does happen in real life then that person is either a teenager with self-esteem issues or an adult that has seen too many tv series.
But frankly my intuition tells me some people will be incapable of understanding that, so i'll be wasting my words for those that can understand it in hope they can recognize the pattern and leave toxic work environments and people as soon as they can.
Then you simply haven't lived it -- a privilege you should be ever grateful for.
Many people try to be good at heart, but there are certain dens of scum that all but the naive, foolish, and equally villainous steer clear of (I was the first two). I joined a startup ran by the equivalent of a used car salesman turned finance exec turned founder. He employed some of his family, and many of his friends and prior colleagues. I was tasked with building the entire technical side of things from the ground up with a "short leash" in terms of resources, time, and such (albeit I came to find out they were never real constraints, just artificial pressure by a Jobs wannabe).
And so I did, because I could not get a job elsewhere, and this was a great career opportunity. I did this in good faith. Even when I had to work 100 hour weeks to put out fires caused by an endless amount of cut corners to reach some artificial deadline -- I still put in a good faith effort to do the right thing. Even when the executives plugged their ears and would not listen to a word that did not coincide with their reality (we need real engineers, and your salesmen need to stop lying to their customers about products we don't have, because I cannot develop 6 projects in parallel. No, you cannot hire a bunch of bodies from a 3rd world country at low wages to staff augment a project behind some delusional deadline).
And so I went from a bright, fit, and jovial young man into a balding, vitriolic, and frankly psychotic goblin. I'm still recovering from the PTSD -- and your post did "trigger" me into an emotional flashback. For that I apologize.
You may have taken my exasperated and irritated tone at face value, as someone without much emotional maturity or inward reflection (i.e. teenagers with self-esteem issues and grown children who spend all of their free time idly consuming entertainment). But this is where I vehemently disagree with your characterization, and will flip it back onto you: perhaps you simply haven't lived enough to understand both view points?
So think twice about pursuing such environments: very often it's not the other team members that are utter shit... Is that the "10x engineer" is making that work environment toxic and not worth staying for other "10x engineer" (but also for "15x engineers" and "35x engineers" who only lack the context about that specific domain).
So the logic is actually inverse: those environments very often will only retain a manipulative/toxic/narcissistic "10x engineer" and a bunch of people that are okay with doing whatever and getting the paycheck at the end of the month (and get, maybe wrongly, referred to as "utter shits").
Don't ask me how i know.