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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'

#221

Post by jppope »

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 actually a super power I have after spending my first part of my career in sales.

I was never formally trained so I just keep asking "why" until someone proves it all the way. Sales itself is also a lot about asking questions that won't come up to find the heart of the thing people actually want... which is just another side of the coin.

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

#222

Post by BeFlatXIII »

pnathan wrote: post #101

I - senior - can patch an application in an unknown language and framework with the AI. I know enough to tell it to stop the wildly stupid ideas. But I don't learn. That's not what I'm trying to do- I'm trying to fix the bug. Hmm. I'm pretty sure AI is going to lead us to a deskilling crash. Food for thought.

On the other hand, if it's a one-off, you'll have forgotten what you learned by the time you'd need to use that skill again.

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

#223

Post by sailfast »

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…

I think the biggest challenge now becomes how more seasoned engineers teach juniors. The AI makes the ramp a lot easier but you still do best when you understand the whole stack and make mistakes.

It’s damned near impossible to figure out where to spend your time wisely to correct an assumption a human made vs. an AI on a blended pull request. All of the learning that happens during PR review is at risk in this way and I’m not sure where we will get it back yet. (Outside of an AI telling you - which, to be fair, there are some good review bots out there)

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

#224

Post by symlinkk »

codegeek wrote: post #130
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…

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…

If you have to be “top talent” to survive it’s not a good field to get into anymore.

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

#225

Post by lifeformed »

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…

Has the quality of software been improving all this time?

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

#226

Post by rsanek »

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…

"without losing face"? What culture are you referring to? The Western companies I have worked at do not discourage such questions -- in fact, it's often the sign of someone very senior when they ask a seemingly 'dumb' question that others have taken for granted.

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

#227

Post by symlinkk »

hrimfaxi wrote: post #107
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…

> Even more recently we had this with radiologists, a profession that was supposed to be crushed by deep learning and neural networks. A quick Google search says an average radiologist in the US currently makes between $340,000 to $500,000 per year. At the end of the day, radiologists are still doctors.

Yep, the only reason their pay is high is artificial barriers to entry.

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

#228

Post by platevoltage »

rvz wrote: post #54

Now with AI, I expect junior developers to learn much quicker and progress to senior very quickly. I'd now rather hire at least 1 of each to begin with, both "junior" and a "senior" developer and then additionally hire more juniors to quickly turn them into a "senior". We do not need to hire anymore outside senior developers who need to be trained on the codebase with AI, given that the junior developers catch up so…

If only everyone thought this way.

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

#229

Post by francisofascii »

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 ?

Speaking as a senior dev, anecdotally juniors may indeed understand AI tools better, because they spend more hours a day coding and working with the tools, and they need the tools to understand the codebase or to be productive. Seniors have more hours stuck in meetings, developing specs/tickets for the juniors, code reviewing, etc. Seniors are likely to not bother with a prompt for simple changes in codebases they already understand.

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

#230

Post by sailfast »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #210
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…

You still need to be curious. I learn a ton by asking questions of the LLMs when I see new things. “Explain this to me - I get X but why did you do Y?”

It’s diamond age and a half - you just need to continue to be curious and perhaps slow your shipping speed sometimes to make sure you budget time for learning as well.

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