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Senior Engineers Are the Next DRAM Shortage (blog.herlein.com)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by to c/experienced_devs@programming.dev
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ETA: summary…

Author describes how agentic coding tools have disincentivized the developer training and mentorship pipeline that the software industry has implicitly relied on to produce seasoned developers, predicting that once the shortage is fully realized it could take years to reverse.

The solution proposed is for managers and senior developers to get ahead of this shortage by foregoing the immediate yet shortlived productivity maximization offered by the agent-multiplied-senior structure in favor of longterm sustainability by deliberately facilitating experience fan-out to juniors.

The methodology proposed is based on a successful nuclear engineering apprenticeship program carried out on active service naval submarines.

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[–] 3 points 1 week ago* (2 children)

When can they come for the business side?

If agents are good enough to operate as “drones” and tools for senior devs, it seems like they could automate/clean up the dysfunction I see over deciding what software should be made, and the complications on that end.

For example, instead of long meetings on the minutia of features, maybe agents could communicate amongst themselves, with structured access to company documentation, and present distilled recommendations for humans to review?

…Or maybe I’m rambling.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 days ago

    We built an AI tool where I work, that looks at the stories that get written for us and complains until the story has a meaningfully good quality. I really like that kind of AI use.

    We still write our code almost fully by hand.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 days ago

    Humans hate the slop. This doesn't work.

    People keep trying to say, "maybe the AI would do a good job at handling the communication" and then they see it autogenerate paragraphs of slop that no one ever wants to fucking read, and the person copying and pasting it couldn't even be bothered to read it. It's pointless if people are sending messages no one cares about

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