You’re not wrong, and I feel like it was a developing problem even before AI - everybody wanted someone with experience, even if the technology was brand new.
That said, even if you and I will be fine, it’s still bad for the industry. And even if we weren’t the ones pulling up the ladder behind us, I’d still like to find a way to start throwing ropes back down for the newbies…
No, but that’s the only way you get senior engineers!
My fear for the software industry is that we’ll end up replacing junior devs with AI assistance, and then in a decade or two, we’ll see a lack of mid-level and senior devs, because they never had a chance to enter the industry.
The difference being junior engineers eventually grow up into senior engineers.
There will always be some jobs. That’s no guarantee that there will be enough jobs for everyone to live modest lives on.
Teachers are generally awesome. But school boards and superintendents are almost stereotypically control freaks; and that’s who sets this stuff up. There are plenty of good ones too, but it’s not nearly as selfless a group as teachers.