The 10X Engineer Who Got Replaced by the Technician

It was one of my first university classes, and the Mathematics professor was introducing himself. He was one of the most brilliant professors I’d ever met. Unlike others, who usually started lecturing immediately, he took time to tell us what the next three years would be like, what we should expect, the highs and lows, and how best to approach them. From day one, he emphasized the importance of learning from first principles and truly understanding what we were studying.

To reinforce his philosophy, he shared a story that deeply resonated with me, sparking my curiosity and shaping the person I am today.

The Machine That Broke

As we all expected, my professor had been a straight-A student and landed one of the best jobs in the city right after college. Everything was going well until one day, a critical machine broke down, costing the company money every minute it was offline. He was called in to fix it, and he spent the entire day troubleshooting. Not a single clue. Two days went by, and he still couldn’t figure it out, so his manager finally called in an old technician to try and fix the issue.

The Technician

The technician arrived, examined the machine for a couple of hours, then requested a specific circuit board to replace. With spare parts on hand, he had the machine up and running in less than half a day. My professor was shocked and began doubting himself. How could he, the brilliant student, not figure out what was wrong?

The Realization

After the initial shock, he approached the technician to ask how he knew what was wrong. The technician replied, “I’ve seen this problem before. I know almost every single piece of this machine. I’ve worked with it for 20 years; I know it like the back of my hand.”

And that’s when my professor realized: given time, he might have figured out the issue. But if the company got a new machine, he could apply his knowledge and problem-solving skills without needing 20 years of familiarity. However, it would take the technician another 20 years to become an expert on a new machine.

The Takeaway

While curiosity is a defining trait of mine, this story impressed upon me the importance of learning intentionally—getting deep into subjects and understanding the first principles of what I’m learning. This philosophy has proven invaluable throughout my career. Sometimes, other engineers fix problems faster by brute-forcing solutions without really understanding the root cause. But in the long run, I’ve been the one able to solve the most problems, faster. And although it’s not a competition, it’s something I take pride in.

Thank you, professor.