Most of my coworkers don't claim to be brilliant programmers, but I would say they're pretty good.
I'd like to think I'm productive but it's for a simple, stupid reason:
I like to use libraries to write as little code as possible. I re-architect my code when it gets too complex and I test my code locally. I only re-invent the wheel when it's absolutely necessary and even then, I try to make it a small, re-useable package that only requires one or two lines of code to use.
Management and QA don't bother me. My integration phase lasts about an hour, compared to weeks for others.
That's what a real "10x" programmer is: someone who follows practices, cares about re-use and doesn't need to re-invent the wheel. If a cowboy coder claims to be a 10x programmer, he's probably the reason everyone else is only a 1x programmer.
I am on the things sucks side. IT seems to be in it's dark age
And it's negative that teams don't scale ;)
And the single one genius (that he proclaimes to be 10 times more productive) leads to a lot of trouble
Everyone thinks he is the one