[justrealist]

I think we can be honest that neither extreme is correct here.

A lot of people choose to be mediocre developers, but likewise a lot of people try very hard to be good but simply don't have the cognitive capacity or organization to excel.

[antupis]

Also environment has lot to do, give that mystical 10x developer boring ops/feature-factory job and watch him become 0.1x developer.

[quickthrower2]

Give him rich parents and watch him start a company.

[echelon]

This rings so true.

(Cognitive Ability) * (Engineering Ability) * (Problem Solving Ability) * (Attention to Correct Details) * (Eagerness to Labor and Work)

There are real 10x engineers. And there are also 0.1x engineers. And plenty in between.

And lots of things impact job performance. Burnout, life satisfaction, interesting problems, ...

[smcleod]

Yes! Absolutely. It is not all or nothing, it very rarely is and the internet is quick to forget that.