This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Andrew Wang, a 33-year-old senior software engineer based in San Francisco. After working at Amazon, he joined Fermat Commerce Inc., an e-commerce AI startup. His identification and employment have been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
When I started my career, you could go to a three to six-month boot camp and get a job.
That’s kind of what I did.
After high school, I attended a boot camp and then started a web-design firm with a friend. Then I studied computer science at Harvard and founded a startup with an MBA friend while I was there.
I was very green at the time, and wanted to see what the industry was like. So I got a job in the field and eventually worked at Amazon for three years. Now I’m back at a Series B startup.
At the beginning of my career, I received a lot of mentorship, and I felt like I was invested in. That helped me become technically better, but also helped me become a better and more empathetic mentor myself. That’s something I really appreciated about engineering culture and I don’t want to see that go away.
I don’t work with any entry-level engineers currently, but I read forums, and I see a lot of junior engineers posting about sending hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of applications, and hearing nothing back. A lot of junior engineers have also reached out to me, and from what I’ve heard, the market is really hard. I think it’s very real that juniors are struggling to find jobs.
While AI may be a part of the problem, I think there are multiple factors at play.
The economic environment
A few years ago, software engineering was sold as an easy pathway to a high-paying, secure job — and I think that led to some over-saturation in the field.
The job market tends to swing like a pendulum. So maybe we’re overcorrecting now. Hypothetically, 10 years down the line, when there aren’t enough senior engineers because we didn’t hire enough of them now, engineers may become highly in-demand again.
But I do think AI is also part of the problem.
There’s this trendy sentiment among leadership to boost productivity, and then use AI to “replace” engineers. Some companies have a very reductionist view of junior engineers, where they’re expected to come in and execute a project, and then their job is over. Those firms may prefer to have one engineer managing five AI agents. Right now, because of macroeconomic factors, companies may be incentivized to cut costs by using AI instead of hiring more engineers.
But I think there’s a tug-of-war going on. There’s another camp that thinks engineers can offer a lot. Those people view AI as a tool that boosts productivity, allowing teams to produce more.
I think each company handles it differently, but those that had planned to outsource talent will likely use AI to augment it. Companies that wanted to find ways to cut costs were going to do it anyway.
Smaller companies may be hesitant to invest
Mentorship is really important to me, so during my interview process, I asked companies whether they had a culture of mentorship and how teams were split between experience levels. Anecdotally, I saw that a lot of smaller companies are leaning heavily senior right now, which I think is understandable.
It’s a big investment to hire, train, and mentor entry-level employees.
As a previous founder, I can understand that when you’re in a rush to build, you don’t have the time or the resources to dedicate toward building an entry-level pipeline. You and your investors are focused on getting the product out.
But in general, I think it’s important to view entry-level engineers as an investment.
When I was at Amazon, I worked with a lot of junior engineers. They added a ton of value to the company, and a lot of them were extremely capable. Experience level doesn’t always dictate how incredible an engineer you are, and missing out on entry-level hiring is a detriment to the field long-term.
When your senior engineers are retiring, and there’s suddenly a huge lack of replacements because you didn’t hire enough junior engineers 20 years ago or 10 years ago — What do you do then?
My advice is: If you really want to be in tech, you should pursue it.
Tough job markets come and go. I have a lot of respect for people who take help desk jobs or IT roles in hopes of eventually breaking into the field. That adaptability is key.
Are you an engineer struggling to find a job? We want to hear from you. Reach out to the reporter via email at [email protected] or through the secure-messaging app Signal at aalt.19.
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