Advice for Juniors in the Age of AI

There's a lot of despair by engineers at the start of their careers right now.

"No one is hiring juniors."

"AI has automated away my skillset."

I often get messages asking for advice about how to get hired as a junior "in the age of AI."

I think there's plenty of opportunity, if you understand the following:

• You are in a sales process whether you like it or not. The product is yourself.
• Therefore, you must find a way to be different.
• Then you must make noise on the internet about how you are different.
• You must be AI native.
• You must apply to startups, not just big companies that feel safe.

The short video below breaks down each of these maxims and why I think there's lots of room for optimism for junior engineers willing to put in the work:

Transcript

So every so often I get people that reach out and they say "hey I'm in my last year of college" or "I'm looking for my first engineering job and I'm really afraid of AI because I'm worried I'm never going to be hired as a junior engineer."

I can empathize with this worry a lot because I also had it at the start of my career. I did not study computer science, I didn't go to Stanford, I did not know anyone in tech until I was already an adult and in my career. I didn't even start seriously writing code until I had already worked for a few years in a different field.

So I think a lot of juniors are in this kind of situation right — no connections, no pedigree — and then they have the added concern now of what does AI do to my skill set.

Now you can either fall into the pit of despair and feel like this is not fair (which it isn't) or you can understand that you are in a sales process whether you want to be or not. In this case you are selling yourself as an engineer. That is the product.

My advice is you must be different and you must make noise.

Being different means finding any way that is authentic to yourself that allows you to stand out in the sea of other engineers.

What does making noise on the internet mean? It means you have to be public about the things that make you different and about the things that you are doing. No one cares to go and seek out your accomplishment. You have to go out and you have to promote the stuff that you do such that the right people see it.

The next thing I would recommend is that you have to stop being afraid of AI. I talked to some juniors and they're like "I don't want to use any of these AI tools, it's going to automate away my job, I don't want to do it." I think this is exactly the wrong strategy to take.

First of all, because this is happening whether we like it or not. AI is coming into engineering, this is the way software is getting built, there's no going back.

More than that, AI's disruption of engineering workflow is the big opportunity for a junior. No one knows how to use these tools well yet. Everyone is still learning, all teams are still figuring out the right way to do this. Being more AI-native is a way to stand out relative to senior engineers.

The last thing I would recommend is that startups are probably your friend. First of all, the people who hire you are often very reachable. You can just email the founder.

Founders are also often more human in how they review applicants and they're this way because they recognize that soft skills and work ethic and being a high-agency person matters more in a startup environment than in a big tech environment. So if you're that kind of go-getting person and you can communicate that, they're going to like you more.

Founders also don't have as big of budgets so they're going to realize that maybe they need to find someone who's currently undervalued by the market — so they're looking for deals. You may be undervalued by the market and a founder is going to say "okay hey I'm going to take a chance on you." But this is going to be your on-ramp into your first role, and you can be a good deal for them.

Startups are also looking for AI-native engineers. They need to get product out fast and they need to be on the frontier and they need to be able to find cost savings and efficiencies from these new tools. This is your chance to go and be that person for them and help them do that.

So in conclusion: don't despair. There are still lots and lots and lots of engineering opportunities available all around the world. If you understand that you are in a sales process, if you allow yourself to be different and if you do it in a public way that attracts the sort of people that are hiring the kind of person that you are, you can go and break in.

Don't be afraid of AI. Go and reach out to startup founders. Use the material that you generate being different and go and help them see you as a good deal, as a good first hire. Help them take a chance on you — and then be prepared to work hard and prove that you're actually a good hire as a junior.