Advice For Junior Devs Who Aren’t Quitting Because AI – Substack

This post was originally published on this site.

The job market is tough right now. There’s no denying that. The news is filled with layoffs, overflowing job applications, and AI about to bring an end to software engineering entirely.

I hear it every day. I see it every day. There are people asking me about this almost every day.

I’m still convinced software development is a great career path. I’m not convinced AI is about to replace developers.

I wanted to write this article for people that are focused on things in their control. That means instead of spending time and energy on:

We can direct our attention to things that we DO have control over to help us become better software developers.

I’m of the mindset that AI isn’t about to obsolete software developers. What I do think will happen is that software developers leveraging will AI will obsolete those that do not.

I don’t think AI is perfect — far from it. The amount of investment going into AI to help enhance developer productivity leads me to believe this is a wave that’s not about to stop. So if you find that “AI just isn’t good enough” or “I’m more effective without it”, that might be totally fair for now…

Just don’t write it off entirely. It’s going to be like writing code in notepad instead of an IDE. Except more significant in terms of impact.

So what should you do? Find where you CAN start leveraging AI so that:

You can become more familiar with it
You can see where and how it’s advancing
You can see where it can be helpful for you
… You can see where it’s truly just not up to par for you

I’ve been programming for over 2 decades now, with almost 15 years of professional work experience. And you know what? I’m finding ways to make myself more effective with AI.

Here are some ideas to consider:

Use AI to rubber-duck debug. It’s better than an actual rubber duck, because it can talk back to you and provide different perspectives on the problem you’re solving.
Use AI to explain concepts. You watched that video on caching and stampede protection, but you were left wondering more about how cache stampedes actually occur. Ask AI! Ask it to give you examples. Ask it to explain it in different ways so that you can understand it more effectively.
Try asking AI for ideas on how to optimize code for different metrics (i.e. memory, runtime, latency, etc…). That doesn’t mean copying code from it blindly — figure out why it’s making those suggestions. Why did it pick that data structure? How did it know to change that SQL query?
Leverage AI to refactor/clean up code! I use many design patterns, and I try to play around with different architecture, design, and organization of code. Sometimes in my own personal code bases, I have a mix of patterns going on — so I can ask AI to migrate my code from one pattern to the other! (Just make sure you have those tests in place!)

You’ll need to experiment and find what works for YOU — and of course, identify what isn’t a benefit for now. You can check out this video for more ideas:

Aspiring developers are often concerned that they don’t have the work experience they’re seeing on those junior-level job postings. You know the ones I’m talking about: Entry-level with 15 years of experience.

While you may not be in a position to easily add work experience on your resume if you’ve not been able to land a job, that doesn’t mean that you can’t create experiences. These might not feel like they’re as “good” as having that company name listed on a resume, but these are still some AWESOME options. You’ll be able to:

Build your technical skills in your programming language(s) and framework(s)
Work in REAL codebases, not just copy-pasted tutorial code
Potentially work together with others!

Here are some ideas:

Pick a hobby. Pick a platform. Pick a language and a framework. Start building something. You can watch this video for more ideas on projects to build.
Contribute to open source. If you feel stuck coming up with an idea, go check out open source that you can contribute to! This has the added benefit of actually interacting with other developers, which is a HUGE benefit when it comes to being prepared for work (… because that’s what you’ll be doing all the time).
Consider volunteering! As a content creator, I have met many people on LinkedIn and beyond that have volunteered their time to not-for-profits (or otherwise). They’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and in some cases this actually led to paid-for positions.

But that’s a great segue into networking.

Many aspiring developers who are applying to jobs are catching on to the volume issue. There are a LOT of applicants applying to jobs, and this means that if you’re not also applying to a lot of jobs, statistically your odds are just going to be less.

It sucks. It makes it feel overwhelming. But there’s another strategy we can layer onto this that isn’t just “10x your number of applications”!

Networking.

And if your first thought is, “awww mannnnn, I hate LinkedIn though!”, then don’t stress too much. There are other options — but I do highly recommend you consider how to use LinkedIn to your advantage.

Here are some ideas for networking:

Consider attending a local meetup for developers. These can be GREAT opportunities to connect with other people. I even flew from Seattle to Dallas last year (on my own dime!) to meet up with developers who were getting together!
Hackathons! Did you write these off completely? I used to attend them as a sponsor with Magnet Forensics and we’d meet TONS of incredible software developers that we could network with.
… LinkedIn! You knew it was coming. You don’t need to be a content creator. You don’t need to like every post by software developers. But you can start building meaningful connections with developers, managers, and recruiters from all sorts of different companies.

Remember, networking is a marathon and not a sprint. Be genuinely curious when reaching out to ask others questions. Don’t jump right into “please refer me” or “please review my resume” — people will be more inclined to do these things after getting to know you.

I’d like to remind you that I don’t want to minimize the challenges folks are facing with their job searches. However, I do want to encourage all of you to focus on what’s in your control.

Remember:

You likely won’t be selected to interview for every job you apply for. You should still keep applying to jobs.
You likely won’t get offers for every interview you finish. You should still prepare for and take on interviews.
Not every side project is going to be the secret to landing that job. You should still build things.
Not every LinkedIn request is going to be that magic connection to refer you to a job. You should still network.

Focus on what you can do. Keep getting better. Make adjustments to your strategy. You got this.