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Microsoft’s quiet Claude Code retreat and the real cost of enterprise AI (thenextweb.com)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/news@hexbear.net
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[–] 12 points 4 months ago (8 children)

So with cheaper models being easily accessible and viable, is junior software engineering cooked in your opinion?

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  • [–] 15 points 4 months ago

    I think for a lot of companies the sugar rush from AI is ending. Coworkers i know who have been interviewing still get leetcode style problem solving questions, standard system design interviews, etc. The job market being tough for SWEs rn is because it is invariably compared to the era of 0% interest rate hiring. Persistence and a solid base of knowledge will land you something decent but getting a beginner job is absolutely tougher than before

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  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    It's going to be a bad time for software devs for the next two to five years imo. Not just because the business idiots think they can stop hiring junior devs but because mass layoffs mean junior devs are competing with middle and senior devs for the same positions. However there's always going to be a need for juniors because there's no senior devs without junior devs training to become senior.

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    there's always going to be a need for juniors because there's no senior devs without junior devs training to become senior.

    Sound like development jobs will soon be like other skilled industries (trades, healthcare, social services etc).

    You always see stuff about "shortage" of workers yet everyone I know is constantly out of work, working part time/casual, stringing together multiple jobs. What the employers want is people with 20 years of experience and lots of training in there. But nobody wants to hire a fresh young person for 20 years and be paying them to upskill regularly. Older people either dont want to teach/train or it can't be integrated with their existing jobs.

    Everyone wants to reap but nobody wants to sow. Employers will do anything to avoid having to invest in people because it indicates a commitment to their value that makes workers upity and demanding. Its more important that the workers feel off balance and insecure all the time.

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago*

    I think the whole reason we see stuff about a """shortage""" of skilled trades workers is to encourage young people to go into the skilled trades, which increases the supply and thus increases precarity and reduces wages. They tell everyone to go into plumbing because they want plumbers to be cheaper.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago*

    I don't think cheaper models will cook devs more than AI has already. Cheaper local models mean junior devs can get the means of production on their laptop without a Claude or cursor license from an employer. If anything its mitigating.

    AI in general is going to cook the junior code monkey at big firms. Senior devs are going to write their designs and diagrams and give that to an AI system to develop instead of a team of junior devs. It'll become more PhD or go home like Physics. Smaller more flexible firms will still need devs.

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