[pcauthorn]

I agree. Another example, Linus T wrote git from scratch to hosting the Linux kernel in 2.5 months. I'd say 10x is a low estimate.

I've worked with a guy who wrote great code like he was typing an email.

Everyone has a ceiling of the complexity of problems they can handle, some programmers are outliers in this regard.

[dustintrex]

Bit of an aside, but writing an email is its own art. Not many developers know how to write an email that a busy, non-technical VP will read, understand and act on in the way they intended. (Then again, neither do many managers.)