My issue with the 10x is it's overapplied at a programmer "macro" level. What I mean by this is I think every average programmer is 10x at _something_; but I've found that that something is not necessarily what a company wants, and even more tactically, not even the programmer can know ahead of time what that is. It feels (for me, anyway), kind of transient too.
Most of what I've written I'd consider basically average. I'm an average programmer, I'd like to think anyway. But a few things I've done I think are well above that. Maybe not 10x, but a couple things I knocked out quickly, got praise for, solved a real problem, and (AFAIK) are still in use today - even maybe decades later.
But did I know "this is my time to shine!" ahead of those? Not a clue. Things just clicked. And the things I thought I'd kickass with... some worked to varying degrees, some just sucked.
Most of what I've written I'd consider basically average. I'm an average programmer, I'd like to think anyway. But a few things I've done I think are well above that. Maybe not 10x, but a couple things I knocked out quickly, got praise for, solved a real problem, and (AFAIK) are still in use today - even maybe decades later.
But did I know "this is my time to shine!" ahead of those? Not a clue. Things just clicked. And the things I thought I'd kickass with... some worked to varying degrees, some just sucked.