Should you hire junior developers when AI coding assistants compress their ramp time
AI-augmented coding shrinks the "valley of regret"—the unprofitable period before juniors break even—from 24 months to 9 months, cutting attrition risk by more than half and improving the economics of junior hiring dramatically. The bet only pays off if you manage for learning, not production, and teach juniors to use AI as a search-space collapsing tool, not a vibe-coding shortcut.
Read full essay on Substack ↗Questions this essay answers