Challenging the Myth of the 10x Programmer

A pervasive belief in software engineering is that some programmers are much, much better than others (the times-10, or 10x, programmer), and that the skills, abilities, and talents of these programmers exert an outsized influence on that organizations’ success or failure. Bill Nichols, a researcher with the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute, recently examined the veracity and relevance of this widely held notion. Using data from a study conducted at the SEI, Nichols found evidence that not only challenges the idea that some programmers are inherently far more skilled or productive than others but that the truth if far more nuanced.