> The most prolific coders are also more competent than average

This is absolutely not true lol, as anyone who's worked with a fabled 10X engineer will tell you. It's like saying the best civil engineer is the one that builds the most bridges.

The best code looks real boring.

I've worked with a 10x engineer and indeed they were significantly more competent than the rest of the team in their execution and design. They've seen so many problems and had a chance to discard bad patterns and adopt/try out new ones.