Comment by __turbobrew__
Comment by __turbobrew__ a day ago
The ∞x engineer exists in my opinion. There are some things that can only be executed by a few people that no body else could execute. Like you could throw 10000 engineers at a problem and they might not be able to solve that problem, but a single other person could solve that problem.
I have known several people who have went to OAI and I would firmly say they are 10x engineers, but they are just doing general infra stuff that all large tech companies have to do, so I wouldn’t say they are solving problems that only they can solve and nobody else.
I think you're right to an extent (it's probably fair to say e.g. Einstein and Euler advanced their fields in ways others at the time are unlikely to have done), but I think it's much easier to work out who these people are after the fact whereas if you're dishing out a monster package you're effectively betting that you've found someone who's going to have this massive impact before they've done it. Perhaps a gamble you're willing to take, but a pretty big gamble nonetheless.