FAQ
Frequently asked questions
The name, the loop, and how submissions, reviews and XP actually work. If something is missing, ask us.
The name
Why 10xDebuggable? Isn't the 10x engineer a myth?
The myth is that 10x is innate. What actually makes someone look 10x is pattern recognition — they have seen this failure mode before, so they skip the two days you would have spent guessing. That comes from volume: more real bugs, in more real codebases, with someone reviewing the fix. Supplying that volume is the entire product.
So this makes me a 10x engineer?
No site can promise that, and one that does is selling you something. What we can do is put you in front of the failures most developers only meet in production — race conditions, stale caches, N+1 queries, timezone bugs — and have a human tell you whether your fix would have been merged. Do that enough times and the speed follows.
Getting started
What exactly is a challenge here?
A working project you clone and run locally, plus a ticket from its backlog. The ticket gives you business context, the symptoms someone reported, and the acceptance criteria your fix will be judged against — the same things a real ticket carries.
Do I need to install anything?
Yes, and that is deliberate. You run the project on your own machine with your own editor and tooling, exactly as you would at work. Each project lists its setup steps, and most run with Docker Compose plus one install command.
Is there a browser IDE or an online runner?
No. A sandbox in the browser would make the platform easier to demo and worse at its job. Debugging a system you have running locally is the skill we are trying to build.
What does it cost?
Nothing during early access.
Solving and submitting
How do I submit a solution?
Fork the project, work on the branch the ticket names (fix/… for bugs, feat/… for enhancements), push it, then paste your fork URL, the branch and a short write-up of the root cause into the submit form on the ticket.
Why do I have to explain my fix?
Because that is what a reviewer reads first. A correct diff with no explanation is hard to review; an explanation that names the root cause tells us you understood the problem rather than pattern-matched your way out of it.
How is my submission judged?
A person reads your diff against the acceptance criteria. Passing tests is the floor. What gets you approved is a root-cause fix a reviewer would merge, with a test that would have caught the bug.
How long does review take?
Usually within a day. You will see the outcome and the feedback on your dashboard.
Can I resubmit if I am rejected?
Yes, as many times as you like. Rejections and change requests always come with feedback explaining what to do next.
Can I look at someone else's solution?
Not through the platform. If you are stuck, ask on the ticket — the maintainer and other solvers can point you in the right direction without handing you the answer.
XP, levels and the leaderboard
How does XP work?
Every ticket is worth a fixed amount of XP, awarded once when a submission is approved. Solving the same ticket twice does not double your XP, and a rejected attempt costs you nothing.
What do the four levels mean?
They mirror how responsibility grows on a team: level 1 is fixing a bug, level 2 implementing a feature, level 3 optimising performance, and level 4 refactoring architecture. Every project runs the same four rungs so you can start where you are comfortable.
What counts as 'active' on a project?
Anyone who picked up a ticket in that project in the last fourteen days. It is there so you can tell whether other people are working alongside you.
Questions and community
Can I ask about a ticket I do not understand?
Yes — every ticket has a questions section. Ask there rather than by email, so the next person who gets stuck on the same wording finds the answer already written.
Can I answer other people's questions?
Please do. Point them at the right file or clarify what the ticket means. Do not post full solutions — it spoils the exercise for everyone who comes after.
Still stuck on something?
Ask on the ticket itself, or get in touch.