> Junior devs have always been useless

> The same ethos makes sense with AI, it's just that every company is trying to avoid paying that training tax.

Last time when a junior dev was added to my team I had a similar thought. But then talking with management I was informed that things went beyond just training.

The company had a social responsibility pledge and understanding with the local educational institutions. They had to pledge to be part of the internship and hiring activities every year. The company could not chose to be fair weather friends and try to recruit people only when they saw fit.

The other aspect was cost. A team made of only senior engineers was costly.

The last aspect was leveling up. Unless the company has lots of levels the team might end up lots of engineers at the same level. And with the inverted funnel nature of promotions it meant some engineers might end up waiting years for the promotion.

So, it was better to have teams with some junior, intermediate and experienced engineers. That way costs and promotion flows were controlled.

Now with AI the impact might go beyond junior devs. I see even the intermediate devs being impacted. It is more likely that companies think they can replace say 1 junior + 1 intermediate with 1 junior dev with AI. Or something along those lines.