How to -10x Engineer Correctly
ThePrimeTime・2 minutes read
To be a negative 10x engineer, one must wait 400 engineering hours per week, using counterproductive tactics like wasting cloud costs and writing slow programs. Strategies include encouraging inefficiency and hindering productivity by creating useless tools and introducing distractions, leading to unhappy customers and significant losses.
Insights
- Encouraging technical discussions to waste time and cause confusion can lead to burnout and turnover, highlighting the negative impact of unannounced software changes based on a personal experience at Workiva.
- Hiring practices emphasizing engineers driven by curiosity and learning, while avoiding dead weight and bad engineering, can prevent a "bozo explosion" and ensure team quality.
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Recent questions
How can one become a negative 10x engineer?
By waiting 400 engineering hours per week, nullifying output, and creating busy work.
What are some counterproductive tactics for engineers?
Wasting wages on cloud costs and writing slow programs.
How can engineers streamline processes?
By running single-threaded programs and using tools like GNU Parallel.
What hiring practices should be emphasized for engineering teams?
Hiring engineers driven by curiosity and learning.
How can engineers avoid significant losses and unhappy customers?
By avoiding fragile code and build systems.
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Summary
00:00
"Negative 10x Engineer: Wasting Time Strategies"
- To be a negative 10x engineer, one must wait 400 engineering hours per week.
- Strategies to achieve this include nullifying the output of 10 engineers and changing requirements late in development.
- Creating 400 hours of busy work involves tasks like presentations, diagrams, and pointless rituals.
- Encouraging technical discussions to waste time and causing confusion can lead to burnout and turnover.
- A personal experience at Workiva highlighted the negative impact of unannounced software changes.
- Encouraging engineers to pursue elegance over pragmatism without decision-making authority can lead to inefficiency.
- Wasting 10 weeks of wages on cloud costs and writing slow, single-threaded programs on powerful machines are counterproductive tactics.
- Running single-threaded programs and using tools like GNU Parallel can streamline processes.
- Creating useless tools and writing scripts only one person understands can hinder productivity.
- Adding 400 hours of compilation build time and introducing distractions like context switching can further waste time.
14:50
"Aligning Staging and Production Environments Effectively"
- Staging and production environments should differ significantly, making alignment challenging.
- Fragile code and build systems can lead to significant losses and unhappy customers.
- Trap engineers with futile projects, underselling difficulty and usefulness, delaying pivoting.
- Hiring practices can lead to a "bozo explosion," where lower-tier talent influences the team negatively.
- Emphasize hiring engineers driven by curiosity and learning, avoiding dead weight and bad engineering.
