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AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

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Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#121

Post by DiscourseFan »

roncesvalles wrote: post #79
frostiness wrote: post #17

I can't help but feel this is backpedaling after the AI hype led to people entering university avoiding computer science or those already in changing their major. Ultimately we might end up with a shortage of developers again, which would be amusing.

Certainly, I even know of experienced devs switching out of tech entirely. I think the next couple of decades are going to be very good for software engineers. There will be an explosion of demand yet a contraction in supply. We are in 2010 again.

There will be programmers of the old ways, but AI is basically code 2.0, there are now a lot of things that are AI specific that those with traditional software development skills can’t do.

Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#122

Post by __s »

codegeek wrote: post #108
orliesaurus wrote: post #37

Interesting take... I'm seeing a pattern... People think AI can do it all... BUT I see juniors often are the ones who actually understand AI tools better than seniors... That's what AWS CEO points out... He said juniors are usually the most experienced with AI tools, so cutting them makes no sense... He also mentioned they are usually the least expensive, so there's little cost saving... AND he warned that without a…

"BUT I see juniors often are the ones who actually understand AI tools better than seniors" Sorry, what does that mean exactly ? Are you claiming that a junior dev knows how to ask the right prompts better than a Senior dev ?

Their implication is that junior devs have more likely built up their workflow around the use of AI tooling, likely because if they're younger they'll have had more plasticity in their process to adapt AI tooling

Overall I don't quite agree. Personally this applies to me, I've been using vim for the last decade so any AI tooling that wants me to run some electron app is a non starter. But many of my senior peers coming from VS Code have no such barriers

Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#123

Post by dylan604 »

avgDev wrote: post #114
mjr00 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to university 2005-2008 and I was advised by many people at the time to not go into computer science. The reasoning was that outsourced software developers in low-cost regions like India and SEA would destroy salaries, and software developers should not expect to make more than $50k/year due to the competition. Even more recently we had this with radiologists, a profession that was supposed to be crushed by de…

I went for CS in my late 20s, always tinkered with computers but didn't get into programming earlier. College advisor told me the same thing, and that he went for CS and it was worthless. This was 2012. I had a job lined up before graduating. Now make high salary for the area, work remotely 98% of the time and have flexible schedule. I'm so glad I didn't listen to that guy.

The one thing I learned in college is that the advisors are worthless. There's how many students? And you are supposed to expect they know the best thing for you? My advisor told me that all incoming freshmen must take a specific math class, a pre-calculus course, totally ignoring all of my AP exams that showed I was well beyond that. Wasted my time and money.

Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#124

Post by aposm »

We frequently get juniors or interns who are perfectly capable of pumping out many LoC with the use of AI in various forms - the issue is that they _don't_ actually ever learn how to think for themselves, and can't fix problems when something goes wrong or the LLM paints itself into a corner. I have found myself doing a lot more shepherding and pairing with juniors when they can't figure something out recently, because they just have not had the space to build their own skills.

Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#125

Post by joshribakoff »

RussianCow wrote: post #92
XenophileJKO wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My prediction is that this will actually get better, because the cost to find and fix with AI is so much lower in time investment.

The problem is human, not technical. Companies and managers need to start caring about the details instead of crossing items off a list. Until we see that culture shift in the industry, which might never happen, AI isn't going to help—if anything, it'll make the problem worse as devs rush to deliver on arbitrary deadlines.

Plus, if you are skipping tests or telling yourself, you wrote them when they don’t actually verify anything in the first place, then buying into a hype cycle of “the AI writes perfect code“ is unlikely to break the pattern

Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#126

Post by joshribakoff »

smurda wrote: post #14

This sounds like a comment from someone who doesn't have visibility into how good the models are getting and how close they are to fully autonomous, production-grade software development.

This sounds like a comment from someone who has tested it in a limited capacity such as small blog sites or side projects that did not need to be maintained

Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#127

Post by bluGill »

sublinear wrote: post #60
mjr00 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to university 2005-2008 and I was advised by many people at the time to not go into computer science. The reasoning was that outsourced software developers in low-cost regions like India and SEA would destroy salaries, and software developers should not expect to make more than $50k/year due to the competition. Even more recently we had this with radiologists, a profession that was supposed to be crushed by de…

Yup hearing big talk about competition and doom is a strong signal that there is plenty of demand. You can either bet on the new unproven thing claiming to change things overnight, or just do the existing thing that's working right now. Even if the new thing succeeds, an overnight success is even more unrealistic . The insight you gain in the meantime is valuable for you to take advantage of what that change brings.…

When there is no competition that is a sign there is no demand.

There can sometimes be too much competition, but often there is only the illusion of too much if you don't look at quality. You can find a lot of cheap engineers in India, but if you want a good quality product you will have to pay a lot more.

Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#128

Post by beAbU »

simonw wrote: post #7

Relevant post by Kent Beck from 12th Dec 2025: The Bet On Juniors Just Got Better https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/the-bet-on-juniors-just-got... > The juniors working this way compress their ramp dramatically. Tasks that used to take days take hours. Not because the AI does the work, but because the AI collapses the search space. Instead of spending three hours figuring out which API to use, they spend twenty minute…

Isn't the struggling with docs and learning how and where to find the answers part of the learning process?

I would argue a machine that short circuits the process of getting stuck in obtuse documentation is actually harmful long term...

Re: AWS CEO says replacing junior devs with AI is 'one of the dumbest ideas'

#130

Post by codegeek »

mjr00 wrote: post #33
frostiness wrote: post #17

I can't help but feel this is backpedaling after the AI hype led to people entering university avoiding computer science or those already in changing their major. Ultimately we might end up with a shortage of developers again, which would be amusing.

I went to university 2005-2008 and I was advised by many people at the time to not go into computer science. The reasoning was that outsourced software developers in low-cost regions like India and SEA would destroy salaries, and software developers should not expect to make more than $50k/year due to the competition. Even more recently we had this with radiologists, a profession that was supposed to be crushed by de…

My take is that these are not binary issues. With outsourcing, it is true that you can hire someone cheaper in Asian countries but it cannot kill all jobs locally. So what happens is that the absolute average/mediocre get replaced by outsourcing and now with AI while the top talent can still command a good salary because they are worth it.

So I think that a lot of juniors WILL get replaced by AI not because they are junior necessarily but because a lot of them won't be able to add great value compared to a default AI and companies care about getting the best value from their workers. A junior who understands this and does more than the bare minimum will stand out while the rest will get replaced.

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