[JimDabell]

> Whether or not "10x programmers" exist, I can say for sure that 1/10th programmers exist.

Not in this context. The term “10x programmer” comes from an observation that there is a factor of ten variation between the best and the worst programmers. So the worst programmers in this context are 1x, and 1/10th is meaningless. People hear “10x” and assume it’s ten times the average, but that’s not the case.

More information here: https://www.construx.com/blog/productivity-variations-among-...

[stingraycharles]

I think the post of the parent is a bit tongue-in-cheek; I read it mostly as “I don’t know whether there are a few developers that are significantly better than the rest, but I do know there are a few developers that are significantly worse than the rest”.

It’s effectively the same thing, but from a different perspective.