I don’t think I’m assuming experienced engineers are immune from this at all. In fact, I think the opposite.

I’ve seen senior engineers adopt AI in a way that made them noticeably worse. If you outsource the reasoning and accept plans you don’t understand then your previous experience isn’t going to save you. Nothing will.

The skill atrophy from outsourcing too much thinking is a real risk. I just don’t think that’s the point I’m trying to make here.

I’m describing a pattern I’m seeing in today. What matters is whether you understand the change being made. If you don’t, then you’re not adding much value, because the LLM can do that part better and faster than you anyway. It doesn’t matter whether you have 2 years of experience or 20.