10x Engineer: From Caffeine to Coding, Twitter Thread Tries to Shed Light on 'Rare Breed of Engineers'

The latest breed of professionals to have to made Twitterati curious is 10x engineer. A Twitter thread by Shekhar Kirani tweeted explaining to the rest of Twitter what 10x engineer is all about. He tweeted saying," 10x engineers, Founders if you ever come across this rare breed of engineers, grab them. If you have a 10x engineer as part of your first few engineers, you increase the odds of your startup success significantly. OK, here is a tough question. How do you spot a 10x engineer?" And the explanation about the sought after breed of engineers was greeted by a barrage of reactions on Twitter.

Detailing some of their common features, Shekhar said, "10x engineers hate meetings. They think it is a waste of time and obvious things are being discussed. They attend meetings because the manager has called for a "Staff meeting" to discuss the features and status. He went on to explain their love for coding and how most of them prefer working in the night than day. The tweet reads, "Most of them are late-night coders and come late to the office."

Check Out The Tweet Below:

10x engineers

Founders if you ever come across this rare breed of engineers, grab them. If you have a 10x engineer as part of your first few engineers, you increase the odds of your startup success significantly.

OK, here is a tough question.

How do you spot a 10x engineer?

— Shekhar Kirani (@skirani) July 11, 2019

Won't Spot Them During Meetings

2. Timings in the office for 10x engineers is highly irregular. They tend to work when very few folks are around. If there is a crowd or all-hands meeting, they are not visible. Most of them are late-night coders and come late to the office.

— Shekhar Kirani (@skirani) July 11, 2019

People With Good Memory

7. 10x engineers rarely look at help documentation of classes or methods. They know it in memory and can recall from memory. They write code at the same ease as writing English. No breaks, no pauce, just type.

— Shekhar Kirani (@skirani) July 11, 2019

While some appeared impressed knowing about this group of engineers, not everyone looked glad.

Is this a joke? No one wants to work with someone who can't communicate, thinks they know everything, can't mentor or interview, and doesn't attend meetings or work predictable hours. Also I can't think of anything less relevant to your skill than a laptop screen background?

— Emily Kager (@EmilyKager) July 12, 2019

Not Everyone Agrees!

This whole thread is bullshit. There is no such thing as a 10x engineer, it’s not black and white. Fetishizing the engineer who stays late at work and cranks out code is unhealthy and inefficient. An effective engineer is balanced at work and life and makes the best of both.

— Kareem Moussa (@karmoussa95) July 13, 2019

Meanwhile, Some Tried to be Funny!

Me, trying to become a 10x engineer #10Xengineer #10Xdeveloper pic.twitter.com/wKZ56SscOc

— 𝔻𝕖𝕖𝕡𝕦 𝕂 𝕊𝕒𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟 (@deepu105) July 13, 2019

HAHAHA

How do you spot a 10x engineer?

No need. They’ll tell you.

— Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) July 13, 2019

When a 10x Engineer Leaves

I’ve seen the type. Worked with several. But the moment that dude takes sick leave or vacation, watch things grind to a halt and god help you if he quits, retires, is hit by a bus etc. Anybody else trying to debug his code / coding to interoperate with his is in for a shock too

— Suresh R (@iamabofh) July 11, 2019

Some of their know features include having a black screen on laptops, love caffeinated drinks, can write codes like it is a language and much more. As the Twitter thread went viral, a group did not seem to agree with the qualities mentioned in the tweets, while some said that the 10x engineers behave the exact same way.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 14, 2019 04:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).