Reddit Discussion · 2026 Q1

Advice for juniors

16 upvotes 16 replies

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Specifically for someone who has already (fortunately) landed a job, and with the context that AI tools may very soon change the SWE landscape in a big way. On the one hand I see lots of arguments tha

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Specifically for someone who has already (fortunately) landed a job, and with the context that AI tools may very soon change the SWE landscape in a big way. On the one hand I see lots of arguments that programming will simply not be a valuable/marketable asset as the skill bar to entry drops in zero. On the other hand I’m cautiously optimistic about being one of the lucky new grads who’s landed a SWE job in this era - young people will have the highest ability to change the course of their careers/acquire skills to match the changing demands of the tech world. So to prepare for this hypothetical future where AGI doesn’t take all of the jobs, what’s the best way to get ahead/what will be the interesting fields? Becoming the AI-enhanced dev orchestrating 10 agents? More soft skills, management-track? Going back to school/getting into research? I’ve even considered going back to school into an adjacent field like Math or theoretical CS, though more out of interest than career utility. I’m aware that no one really knows and I’m just looking for opinions. I just feel that the “classic” path of leveling up and becoming a well-paid mid level/senior engineer in big tech may not be “the dream” anymore. Which is unfortunate but also exciting.
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