AI tools are getting faster, cheaper, and—some say—good enough to replace junior developers. In this episode of Web News, we dive into the recent X discussion between Brian Coords, Matt Mullenweg, and others about whether AI agents could do junior dev work for just $12k–$15k a year. Are junior developers truly cooked? Could the career path for new devs become unpaid or low-paid work until you “level up” to senior? We explore the implications for the industry, the future of developer salaries, and whether entry-level jobs are at risk.
Just yesterday I saw a conversation on X (between Brian Coords, Matt Mullenweg, and others) about the price, profitability and our reliance on AI - nothing new really - but then in the replies I saw people talking about how an AI agent could be better and faster than a junior developer, and that the price could come in at a rather cheap ~12k-15k. This is, of course, all speculation and estimation… but if we were able to get rid of all the salaries we pay junior developers, then we’d drive a lot of value to shareholders (the suits are definitely thinking about this).
X convo: https://x.com/briancoords/status/1944910317378789747
We believe that some responses have since been deleted from the X convo - but that doesn't take away from the Web News topic for this week.
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