I just finished reading the Mythical Man Month, and while it was certainly very good, the part of the book on 10X engineers struck me immediately as a gross oversimplification. Are there people that are 10X more productive than their worst peers? Absolutely. Are there people that are 10X more productive than the average peer? doubtful, or at least not consistently so, depending on their personal life and/or the nature of their workload.
The OP's opening "I was a 10x engineer for 7 months and then I was a 0x engineer for a year and a half." pretty much sums it up. I think many of us have at least felt to be in both places at different points in our lives. A "10Xer" can be loaded down with dreary (or extremely challenging) tasks that can send their "productivity" off a cliff. Either they burn out, or the nature of their work requires more "breakthroughs". If they are wise enough to refuse always saying yes to their bosses, they can become a wet blanket, which can also seemingly affect their perceived productivity.
The OP's opening "I was a 10x engineer for 7 months and then I was a 0x engineer for a year and a half." pretty much sums it up. I think many of us have at least felt to be in both places at different points in our lives. A "10Xer" can be loaded down with dreary (or extremely challenging) tasks that can send their "productivity" off a cliff. Either they burn out, or the nature of their work requires more "breakthroughs". If they are wise enough to refuse always saying yes to their bosses, they can become a wet blanket, which can also seemingly affect their perceived productivity.