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I think the problem is that the author has normalized his development standard to proficient coders in the tech industry. I used to do enterprise software in the midwest and there are legions of 1/10th developers out there. Its easy move your baseline far away from the average when you are in the echo-chamber of high-tech startups. Compared to the true average developer there are definitely 10x developers.

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I think the author's point was we should start calling a spade a spade.

Stop calling the 1/10th developers normal baseline and admit that even thought they may be the majority of developers, that doesn't mean we should accept that as the status quo.

I imagine this phenomenon is common in most professions. They are tons of accountants and arborists out there. I wonder if they have the same ratio of 'able' to 'efficient', or if some professions are better or worse.

I once had a professor who remarked that if you have a large enough population, the distribution of their skills will form a normal distribution. The difference is that, in some fields, the difference between a genius and a dud is much smaller than others.

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