Do we need Junior developers?

Do we need junior developers, freshers, early aspirants in Software Industry (and any other industry)? my take - Yes.

Doesn't the above take seem contrary to the prevalent news about AI taking over junior or senior jobs, why so much narrative about every day work going away to robots (like shown in the movie 'I Robot' released in 2005) - when retail/daily Robotics is at least a decade away and Artificial Intelligence (particularly Agentic AI) is still shaping up?

There is some truth (early strides like use of chatbots for IT support), but lot of hype to aid capitalism, regrettably; still the news circulates on and professionals get effected because taking this narrative path helps justify role reductions or reorgs or strategizing, which leads to cost savings, then leads to higher share prices or opportunity budget that can be deployed elsewhere - just an inference.

However, even if there is some truth, does it mean the industry does not require junior engineers/professionals? This has never been true, nor would it ever be, in my humble opinion.

Entry level / junior professionals - you are the next generation, the next force that pushes the economic pedestal forward for your country and industry, you have the energy and perspective, you have the internet and lot of free resources to upskill and you can understand industry trends well (or learn).. simply said, you are smart, vocal, capable and well armed.

First some historical reference:

During the economic downturn events (2000 dot com burst, 2008-09 financial crisis, Covid-19), for freshers/juniors (even seniors), I cannot deny that struggle was there, I am aware of many technologists to moved to marketing/data processing/front office/other roles to keep the house running; due to lay offs many professionals had to stay out of job for few months, but then eventually (even after an year), people got the relevant jobs - may not be in big companies, but in small ones, midsized ones, working as interns/trainees, faculties, part-time engineers and then eventually landing the kind of jobs they wanted or aspired to. It took time, but it happened; career toll? it took some months or year out of a career trajectory, but few months or year out of a 35-40 year career, can be caught up - looking at the long term.

Note: majority of working people I have known over the past 25 years are still employed, but they did need to pick up new skills or move into different roles

To the point about AI/automation impacting need for junior engineers:

Before AI, let's talk about previous automation spikes and what they did to IT jobs and need for juniors. Innovations like software test automation, robotic process automation (RPA), AI chatbots in support/customer facing phases forced professionals to pick new skills rather than eliminate their jobs - for majority of the roles (but some were effected e.g. reduction in IT support personnel head count or manual software testers asked to become test engineers etc.); again, only the professionals who did not adapt to new skills or aligned with new realities (incl. to increased productivity or performance expectations) were effected - and that too not on day one, but over a tenure. The need for entry level / juniors did not go away, junior hiring got delayed or recruitment numbers got reduced temporarily but definitely picked up later - let's call this the 'delay' effect.

AI is another form of automation that is much smarter than its predecessors. The first impact or theme, at least at this stage with Generative AI (Chat GPT, Gemini, Claude and others) is that with these chat tools at hand, people need to be a lot more productive and should be multipliers. So, if you see, the business demands are what? -> 'increased productivity or performance expectations'. I find this as a common theme repeated over and over again irrespective of the automation spike at play.

Another theme that AI has actually expedited (it was already growing) is a shift towards leaner organization hierarchy, increasing technical skills, currently trending as the need for more engineering skills and reduction in facilitation oriented roles. Whether we like this or not, this is happening and we must prepare/adapt. So, what could juniors/entry level staff do? Do more side / live projects to be job ready.

Yet another theme that will start taking shape is when Agentic AI becomes production ready, it could further impact facilitator roles in companies if the privacy and security concerns of Agentic AI are taken care of. But who would configure Agentic AI? of course, developers. And what could facilitator oriented roles do? Mesh more business or other skills relevant to the job or industry

AI will impact different IT companies in different ways, depending on their business models, segregation of roles, customer profiles, funding and more. But some things are less likely to change, in my humble opinion, like:

• Need for engineers who are productive and multipliers (right attitude)
• Need for engineers to oversee output of AI tools, this would be a technical function
• Need for project managers to manage projects and programmes
• Need for production support staff to man IT systems and tackle incidents/problems (if I were an IT production manager, I would not trust a solution from AI - at least at this point, I need to talk to a man)
• Need for engineers to mentor other engineers, otherwise, the human connect will vanish
• Need for Engineering leaders, not just talkers but, those who can walk the talk
• Need for multiple skills - degrees would matter less, skills would matter more. And, this is not a new theme, its been there since a few decades at least in IT

What I would have done if I were a junior developer or fresher today

Being an entry level / junior is never easy in an unsettling economic or industry stage, like in IT. Yet, if I were there today, this is what I would have done:

1) Talked to experienced engineers (find on LinkedIn, Medium, dev.to etc.), taken their guidance for realistic projects and done practice
2) Checked college/university alumni and sought support (kept ego side)
3) Volunteered for freelance projects
4) Got into any IT role if possible (trainee, intern, tester, engineer, support) in any IT organization / get foot in the door
5) Created a smart CV covering projects, skills, volunteering, education
6) Done Network Network Network - one of the lifelines of career
7) Focused on learning and professional certification
8) Taken career guidance from experienced IT folks

At the end

I hope the articles resonates with someone, I would be more than happy to hear any criticism or views that would widen my own and everyone's understanding and to help each other. And if you ask me about AI impact, I believe the senior IT professionals are at a much higher risk than juniors.