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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'

#151

Post by citrin_ru »

__s wrote: post #122
codegeek wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 comi…

Speaking of vim - adding and configuring copilot plugin for vim is easy (it runs a nodejs app in the background but if you have spare 500 Mb RAM it's invisible).

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

#152

Post by usefulcat »

sfpotter wrote: post #145
chaos_emergent wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the struggle of sifting through a labyrinth of physical books and learning how and where to find the right answers part of the learning process? I would argue a machine that short-circuits the process of getting stuck in obtuse books is actually harmful long term...

It may well be. Books have tons of useful expository material that you may not find in docs. A library has related books sitting in close proximity to one another. I don't know how many times I've gone to a library looking for one thing but ended up finding something much more interesting. Or to just go to the library with no end goal in mind...

You could make much the same observation about online search results.

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

#153

Post by tayo42 »

epolanski wrote: post #96

My experience is that juniors have an easier time to ramp up, but never get better at proper engineering (analysis) and development processes (debug). They also struggle to read and review code. I fear that unless you heavily invest in them and follow them, they might be condemned to have decades of junior experience.

> but never get better at proper engineering (analysis) and development processes (debug). They also struggle to read and review code.

You can describe pre-ai developers and like that too. It's probably my biggest complaint about some of my Co workers

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

#154

Post by par »

Ive been managing and supporting teams for a long time and i'm sorry, but junior and mid-level devs do the majority of the heavy lifting when it comes to work output in big corps. I don't think AI will replace them. I don't think all these IC5 and IC6 engineers are going to be putting up 400-500 diffs a year anytime soon.

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

#155

Post by tencentshill »

beAbU wrote: post #128
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...

The naturally curious will remain naturally curious and be rewarded for it, everyone else will always take the shortest path offered to complete the task.

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

#156

Post by GeoAtreides »

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…

>but because the genie, used well, accelerates learning.

This is "the kids will use the AI to learn and understand" level of cope

no, the kids will copy and paste the solution then go back to their preferred dopamine dispenser

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

#157

Post by calepayson »

sfpotter wrote: post #145
chaos_emergent wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the struggle of sifting through a labyrinth of physical books and learning how and where to find the right answers part of the learning process? I would argue a machine that short-circuits the process of getting stuck in obtuse books is actually harmful long term...

It may well be. Books have tons of useful expository material that you may not find in docs. A library has related books sitting in close proximity to one another. I don't know how many times I've gone to a library looking for one thing but ended up finding something much more interesting. Or to just go to the library with no end goal in mind...

Speaking as a junior, I’m happy to do this on my own (and do!).

Conversations like this are always well intentioned and friction truly is super useful to learning. But the ‘…’ in these conversations seems to always be implicating that we should inject friction.

There’s no need. I have peers who aren’t interested in learning at all. Adding friction to their process doesn’t force them to learn. Meanwhile adding friction to the process of my buddies who are avidly researching just sucks.

If your junior isn’t learning it likely has more to do with them just not being interested (which, hey, I get it) than some flaw in your process.

Start asking prospective hires what their favorite books are. It’s the easiest way to find folks who care.

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

#158

Post by klipklop »

I believe the idea is to not stop hiring juniors. Instead it's to replace anybody that commands a high salary with a team of cheaper juniors armed with LLM's. The idea is more about dragging down average pay than never hiring anybody. At least for now.

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

#159

Post by GeoAtreides »

chaos_emergent wrote: post #137
beAbU wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Isn't the struggle of sifting through a labyrinth of physical books and learning how and where to find the right answers part of the learning process? I would argue a machine that short-circuits the process of getting stuck in obtuse books is actually harmful long term...

When I first opened QBasic, years ago, when I was a wee lad, the online QBasic help didn't replace my trusty qbasic book (it supplemented it, maybe), nor did it write the programs for me. It was just there, doing nothing, waiting for me to press F1.

AI, on the other hand...

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

#160

Post by omnimus »

DiscourseFan wrote: post #121
roncesvalles wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Like what exactly?
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