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Why AI Won’t Replace Senior Devs (But Some Really Want It To)

A senior developer with 20+ years of experience recently shared a hot take on Reddit: AI doesn’t actually help him code. In fact, he says it slows him down. He’s not anti-AI—he just doesn’t see the hype when it comes to his day-to-day work.

But here’s the kicker: That’s exactly the problem AI investors want to solve.

The Myth of AI as Just Another Tool

Plenty of developers argue that AI is most useful in the hands of experts—senior engineers who can quickly filter out bad code, refine prompts, and integrate AI-generated snippets into real projects. But according to our Reddit friend, that’s not the real goal of AI.

The big money pouring into AI isn’t about making senior devs 10% faster. It’s about making coding so easy that you don’t need senior devs at all.

The End of Expertise?

The dream (or nightmare, depending on who you ask) is a world where anyone can describe an app in plain English and watch AI build it. No debugging. No architectural trade-offs. Just instant software.

But here’s the thing: That’s not how software works.

Real projects aren’t just about writing code—they’re about understanding edge cases, making judgment calls, and untangling messy human problems. Senior devs don’t just write code; they think about it. And that’s a lot harder to automate.

Why the Rush to Replace Knowledge Workers?

Our Reddit dev has a theory: Big tech and Wall Street don’t just want efficiency—they want control. Experts are risky. They can push back, negotiate salaries, or even start their own companies. But if anyone can build software with AI, expertise becomes optional.

Is that the real endgame? Maybe. Or maybe AI will just become another tool, like Stack Overflow, that saves time but doesn’t replace the need for skilled developers.

So Where Does That Leave Us?

For now, senior devs are safe. AI still struggles with complex logic, scalability, and the kind of deep problem-solving that separates good code from great software.

But the push to “democratize” coding isn’t going away. The question isn’t if AI will change development—it’s who it’s really being built for.

What do you think? Is AI coming for senior devs, or just making their jobs easier?