undefined | Better HN

0 pointsj7ake4y ago0 comments

Just to give a concrete example: no amount of software engineers can be hired to produce comparable work of an expert cartoonist except by dumb luck. Throwing 1000 engineers won’t solve the problem.

I imagine within the tech world there are tasks that are ill defined and a small subset of engineers can solve, but a typical engineer may not have the background to solve it.

0 comments

4 comments · 1 top-level

thecupisblue4y ago· 3 in thread

>no amount of software engineers can be hired to produce comparable work of an expert cartoonist except by dumb luck.

You actually hit this nail quite on the head with the example. The "10x engineers" get a lot of their "10x"-ness from creativity - most I've met are cartoonists, painters, musicians, writers, cooks - artists in general that love software as a way of expressing themselves and earning good money. The beautiful bits of code you get after are usually there because the starting point is "create it" not "implement existing solution/pattern".

tracker14y ago

I generally consider myself a 5x coder... I usually spend about 1/3 the day reading/learning and another 1/3 experimenting... only about 1/3 of a typical day will I be on-task, and usually still outpace my peers. This last 2-week cycle, I literally did all the assigned work, and refactored a few things that annoyed me in one caffeine fueled night.

I used to do design/graphix/ux work... that always interested me. Programming pays better, and I have a talent for it. I have spent time learning patterns, etc, but not through a formal education. I tend to just see a good way forward... creating discoverable code along the way. I find a lot of the time, the formal patterns tend to just make things more complicated than they need to be.

Just my own take on things. I'm kind of lazy in a good way. I have spurts where I will do a crazy amount in a short time, and those where I'm closer to coasting. Like many/most creative types, it varies.

RHSman24y ago

This has helped me to understand this very problem (which I didn’t really know had a name)

travisgriggs4y ago

Uh, you left out passionate lego builders (AFOL). I’m adding it for you.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse