[jonathanrmumm]

There has never been a more fertile environment for motivated learners to do more with less, and yet we still have a bias as an industry to seek the more experienced hand versus the energetic one.

[edmundsauto]

As the pure value of energy decreases, the value of judgement and taste increases.

[jonathanrmumm]

Judgement and taste increases with energy spent—and from a company's perspective, usually you want it to grow in line with your own.

[svnt]

This is the real problem, possibly: the dev seniority pipeline dies without junior devs learning.

Also possibly, good would-be-junior-devs find something more productive to do.

[edmundsauto]

They can, if people are growing. So many mid level engineers at my company spend their energy on the same year of experience.

[svnt]

The one thing they had was enthusiasm, but even the most committed and energetic junior hire cannot touch the productivity of AI on most of the work junior software devs are handed.

People are focused on absolute llm accuracy, but time-to-90%-there for AI vs junior dev is seconds to hours/days.

[jonathanrmumm]

- Linus Torvalds wrote Linux at 21 - Steve Wozniak built Apple I at 25 - Palmer Luckey created Oculus VR at 20 - Vitalik Buterin designed Ethereum at 19 - Mark Zuckerberg coded Facebook at 19

[svnt]

And not one of them was hired as a junior dev.

[jonathanrmumm]

They developed software as "juniors" in companies—we just don't belittle them by calling them "junior devs".

[svnt]

Bringing in No True Scotsman doesn’t save the argument.

These people were exceptional outcomes, where luck and hubris met sufficient competency. You cannot argue the general case from exceptions.

[jonathanrmumm]

If we view the person we are looking to hire as a "junior dev", a "junior dev" is what you will get. But if you seek a young, competent software dev—one you might find.