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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'

#201

Post by macintux »

tencentshill wrote: post #155
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...

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.

> The naturally curious will remain naturally curious and be rewarded for it

Maybe. The naturally curious will also typically be slower to arrive at a solution due to their curiosity and interest in making certain they have all the facts.

If everyone else is racing ahead, will the slowpokes be rewarded for their comprehension or punished for their poor metrics?

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

#202

Post by linksnapzz »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #181
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...

1965: learning how to punch your own punch cards is part of the learning process 1995: struggling with docs and learning how and where to find the answers part of the learning process 2005: struggling with stackoverflow and learning how to find answers to questions that others have asked before quickly is part of the learning process 2015: using search to find answers is part of the learning process 2025: using AI to…

Unironically, yes.

Now get back to work.

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

#203

Post by sharemywin »

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…

I think the big win with AI is being able to work around jargon. Don't know what that word means ask AI. what the history on it no problem. don't understand a concepts explain this at a high school reading level.

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

#204

Post by sfpotter »

bee_rider wrote: post #168
sfpotter wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

This should be possible online, it would be if more journals were open access.

Disagree, actually. Having spent a lot of time publishing papers in those very journals, I can tell you that just browsing a journal is much less conducive to discovering a new area to dive into than going to a library and reading a book. IME, books tend to synthesize and collect important results and present them in an understandable (pedagogical?!) way that most journals do not, especially considering that many papers (nowadays) are written primarily to build people's tenure packets and secure grant funding. Older papers aren't quite so bad this way (say, pre-2000).

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

#205

Post by tyre »

alexgotoi wrote: post #192

The thing people miss in these “replace juniors with AI” takes is that juniors were never mainly about cheap hands on keyboards. They’re the only people in the org who are still allowed to ask “dumb” questions without losing face, and those questions are often the only signal you get that your abstractions are nonsense. What AI does is remove a bunch of the humiliating, boring parts of being junior: hunting for the r…

This is a really good and under appreciated point. My recommendation to mid-level, senior, and staff engineers is to keep questioning decisions and create a culture where that’s encouraged.

Junior devs do that naturally (if you have the culture) because they don’t know anything already. It’s great

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

#206

Post by hiddencost »

alexgotoi wrote: post #192

The thing people miss in these “replace juniors with AI” takes is that juniors were never mainly about cheap hands on keyboards. They’re the only people in the org who are still allowed to ask “dumb” questions without losing face, and those questions are often the only signal you get that your abstractions are nonsense. What AI does is remove a bunch of the humiliating, boring parts of being junior: hunting for the r…

Yikes. Sounds like you work for a toxic company. The mid and senior level engineers I know all go out of their way to ask the dumb questions. Every junior employee I've mentored, I've told them the main way they can fail is not asking questions early and often. Gotta build a culture that supports questions.

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

#207

Post by thinkingemote »

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...

learning to learn

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

#210

Post by ChuckMcM »

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…

And this is always my question: "... because the genie, used well, accelerates learning." Does it though?

How are we defining "learning" here? The example I like to use is that a student who "learns" what a square root is, can calculate the square root of a number on a simple 4 function calculator (x, ÷, +, -) if iteratively. Whereas the student who "learns" that the √ key gives them the square root, is "stuck" when presented with a 4 function calculator. So did they 'learn' faster when the "genie" surfaced a key that gave them the answer? Or did they just become more dependent on the "genie" to do the work required of them?

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