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by simonw 29 days ago
The more time I spend using agent tools the less I worry about knowledge worker job loss.

It takes a skilled knowledge worker to use these things.

3 comments

Yes, but I do worry about junior knowledge worker job loss. These models are very good (and getting better) at the vast dark matter of "donkey work" that happens in knowledge-based industries -- work typically done by junior devs / analysts / lawyers / consultants, paralegals, admin assistants, customer success / support, etc. -- and those roles comprise the bulk of the workforce.

And worse, these are the tasks that help the junior people eventually grow into the skilled knowledge workers required to operate models, so there's a pipeline problem too.

I do too, but I think it currently has a lot more to do with the quasi-recession we've been in since the end of ZIRP and AI is a better excuse to stop training juniors than telling investors it's belt tightening, just like layoffs.

I'm already seeing tech execs/hiring managers getting very frustrated at the lack of new-senior-engineers to hire. The market will correct for this in time.

Curious if you can share any backing information from your last statement? As a senior engineer (well, that's my job title anyway), I find it encouraging.
This doesn't break it down by experience, and I can't find specific data on that, but the recent spike in demand for engineers + subsequent drop in unemployment this year is well documented [1].

The demand for senior+ engineers has remained steadier through this downturn from my anecdotal observations, with new grads being by far the most negatively affected, but even that seems to both be shifting from talking to people a handful of years younger than me + CS enrollment has already precipitously declined [2] as the narrative that programming is dead because of AI has spread rapidly.

All that leads me to think it's going to be a junk-show over the next decade for people trying to hire as the pipeline was destroyed.

1: https://www.citadelsecurities.com/news-and-insights/2026-glo... 2: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/04/13/compute...

We'll get around to training job specific models or the equivalent. Thats just lower on the value chain for now.
Sure. I was challenging the parent on how the “game” they are positing would play out.