Also, I hate the term "10x engineer". Everything follows a normal distribution.
Even if people were to use a new term such as "3-Sigma Programmer" instead of "10X Programmer", the ensuing debates would still be the same.
To make peace with the "10x" label, I suggest people just think of it as a figure-of-speech instead of a mathematical term. We don't get hung up when people say "Star Wars IV was ten times better than Phantom Menace" or "I'm not even 1/2 the football player I used to be."
A normal distribution doesn't preclude the existence of a 10X, just describes the rarity.
Yes, this is why the 60 wealthiest people have as much wealth as half of the world combined.
If you put them all on the same team as a 1x engineer, there will be the perception that one engineer is 10x most programmers.
Evidence suggests that technical talent is bimodal.