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Andrew Harris posted thisThe 18-24 year old developers are disappearing from industry. This will crash the tech industry worse than the upcoming AI bubble-burst. This can be corrected, but it must be corrected soon. Since 2011, Stack Overflow has published an Annual Developer Survey[1]. The last five years of survey results for developers' age can be directly compared: 18-24 years old: 2025 - 18.7% 2024 - 21.4% 2023 - 20.11% 2022 - 23.46% 2021 - 25.47% Yes, the pandemic happened. Yes, remote work and online learning made it easier for newer participants in the tech industry to get started. We know why there was a boom in 2021/2022. We also know why the 18-24 demographic group is steadily shrinking: - Layoffs disproportionately hurt earlier-career individuals, both in who loses jobs first (juniors), and in who gets hired afterwards (seniors). - AI spending has succeeded in destroying headcount for interns, recent college grads, and similar entry-level roles. These two forces, layoffs and AI spending, seem unlikely to end. But that isn't my point. What we aren't talking about yet is the impact in five more years of a continued decline in the 18-24 demo. If we assume that the trend of roughly -1pp to -1.5pp change in the 18-24 demo continues, then by 2030 we should expect the 18-24 demo to comprise between 11 and 13 percent of developers. That slashes the demo fully in half since the hiring peak in 2021. Additionally, this was the first year in a decade that "under 18" was not represented in the survey results. A population pyramid describes demographic ages in a population vis-a-vis births and deaths[2]. A population is considered to be stable when births more-or-less replace deaths. A population is considered to be at risk of societal conflict when there is significant surplus of unpaired individuals of reproductive age, or when deaths significantly outpace births. We can apply the same lens to the tech industry. Between layoffs (unpaired individuals) and slashed early-career headcount (low "births"), companies are increasingly at risk over time of conflict, constriction, and liquidation. Maybe AI can close some of these gaps. The technology to write software is improving! However, as older developers continue to retire from industry, the hands to replace them simply won't exist. And the technology to write software just isn't ready yet. It's yet to be seen whether it will ever be ready. The long-term answer, as it has been and will continue to be, is to hire more early-career people. Hire interns and co-ops. Hire from underrepresented groups. Hire career-changers and returners. Make room for internal transfers, such as from operations and support roles. Train new people as part of your regular work practices. Companies that do this will survive the demographic crash. Companies that don't will answer to their shareholders, investors, and liquidators. Tick tock. --- 1 - https://lnkd.in/gFnpSzV7 2 - https://lnkd.in/gzhufgwZ
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Andrew Harris posted thisThe AI agents aren't a replacement for humans. Not now, and probably not for a while to come. I pushed myself to use more AI tooling in my code work over the last few days. I had a relatively tightly scoped implementation of a thing, and a known error case that I wanted to test. I asked the AI agent to generate a unit test for the error case. The AI agent: - Generated an unrelated test. - Generated two more copies of the unrelated test. - Generated a test that asserted that a fixed string contained another fixed string. - Generated a test that asserted "true". - Claimed at each of the above steps that these covered my requested error case. - Claimed, upon correction, that the test was impossible to write. - Got lost in loops at least three times that I noticed. - Lost the ability to reference its own internal tools mid-session. I started a new agent session, and after a bit more prodding I successfully generated a valid test for my requested case. This was with an enterprise account on a popular agent-based AI coding platform. I have no idea how much fresh water I dumped back into the ocean, or how much coal smoke I released into the sky, during this process. "Maybe you asked it the wrong questions." "Maybe it was your prompt or your underlying rules." "Maybe you just got the agent into a bad state." Sure. Whatever. You know who asks me questions, instead of declaring that their test strategy is correct? You know who has so-far never deliberately misled me about the behavior of a test they wrote? A human colleague. An intern or recent college grad. A career-changer or returner. A person who has been at this for ten days, ten years, or whatever in between. Hire more humans.
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Andrew Harris shared thisThe next gold rush is early-career talent. AI is hot. The boom in AI agents has been driven by high-burn-rate foundation and tooling platforms, short-sighted leaders wooed by promises of slashing personnel expenses, and *vibes*. And what a boom! But someone has to pay for that. AI agents have successfully eaten away hiring budgets typically earmarked for recent college graduates, career-changers and returners, and other kinds of early-career talent. This is true especially in technology roles, however we're seeing it across many sectors right now. [1] Unemployment in June among 22-27 year olds was over 7%, nearly double the national average. [2] When we fail to make room for early-career talent, we fail to grow seasoned ICs and leaders. We will necessarily run out of ICs and leaders, and we will run thin on new ideas and creativity along the way. It's a race against time, measured perhaps in years but nonetheless a race. We must redesign work, so that "early-career" doesn't simply mean "rote, low-level work". The boring, repetitive stuff should be done by AI agents! AI agents are great at complex copy-paste! Work must be restructured so that we "focus on framing the problems, asking better questions, and building relationships" as first-order concerns. [3] We must redesign teams, so that seasoned late-career ICs and managers seek out opportunities to mentor and teach. The best way to understand a subject is to teach it to another. This also creates an opportunity to refine and practice interpersonal communication skills, and for late-career folks to learn what's important for the next generation and what we might improve. Finally, we must redesign leadership, so that C-suite and adjacent leaders see the intrinsic value and necessity of seeking out and hiring early-career talent. This is an existential threat. If your company wants to remain competitive in three to five years when the AI wave comes crashing down, you must hire and begin growing early-career talent now. The next gold rush is early-career talent. And growing new talent is a genuine investment in your company, unlike other kinds of "gold" on the market. 1. https://lnkd.in/g-BYMe3J 2. https://lnkd.in/g2Pgnwku 3. https://lnkd.in/g3vBThqBThe Perils of Using AI to Replace Entry-Level JobsThe Perils of Using AI to Replace Entry-Level Jobs
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Andrew Harris reposted thisAndrew Harris reposted thisLife Update ▶️I'm back on the job market ◀️ Looking for: - backend engineering role - nyc hybrid preferred, but willing to do full in office or strong remote culture Industry agnostic, but definitely want to be in a role that I can dive deep into the implementation of complex backend system, continue to push my 0-1 skills. I want to be building. About me: - 3 years backend engineer experience + 5 years of dev rel experience + founder experience - wrote golang in previous role, have experience in python - but can pick up any language as needed, have done some work in react and javascript - strong communication/soft skills - public speaking, documentation, and project organization - I work hard at work and outside of work - side projects include building my own linux distro, organized the net gala, and do technical content creation across multiple platforms on a regular basis - MIT grad (MEng + BS in EECS) Can start ASAP My DM's are open - if you know of any opportunities. I am also open for intros to people who you think would be a good connection.
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Andrew Harris reposted thisAndrew Harris reposted thisYesterday, Checkr, Inc. parted ways with some incredible and exceptionally talented individuals who helped to build Checkr into what it is today. I’m so grateful for each and every person who was impacted for their contributions and impact, and I’m here to support them in their transition in any way that I can. For all who are hiring right now, I would love to connect you with these talented individuals. Their experiences range across all sales functions including both IC's and leaders as well various other roles throughout the business. Please directly comment with roles you are hiring for below - I have some amazing referrals to send your way!
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Andrew Harris reposted thisAndrew Harris reposted thisAs many of you know, Checkr recently underwent a workforce reduction impacting 32% of our team. It’s been a tough week for all of us, and my thoughts are with everyone affected by this difficult news. ❤️ The people who are impacted by the layoff are some of the most skilled, hardworking and collaborative software professionals I know. I want to leverage my network and support them as much as I can. Here are some ways you can help: 1. Share open positions at your company 2. Recommend specific former colleagues for relevant roles 3. Connect impacted individuals with hiring managers in your network Let's come together and support this amazing group as they transition to their next opportunity. #Checkr #layoffs #jobsearch #opentowork
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Andrew Harris reposted thisAndrew Harris reposted thisFor those of you who have open positions to fill, I highly recommend you consider employees who were impacted by Checkr's layoffs today. The company laid off 32% of its workforce, including 382 amazing human beings. So many of these folks were my former colleagues and some of the most passionate, brilliant, values-driven and hard-working individuals I have ever met. It is a massive blow for the company and a huge opportunity for all of you employers out there. Highly recommend you snagging them before someone else does! Here are some of those incredible humans that any company would be lucky to have: Chris Dunaway, Paul Keeling, Sean T., Taylor Heuser, Elliot Wright, Griselle Fonseca, Cesar Cuadra, Forrest Drew, Kevin Bruce, Scott Matsuda I will continue adding people as I discover who has left. For my friends and former colleagues, please reach out to me if there's anything I can do to support you in this transition to a new chapter.
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Andrew Harris liked thisAndrew Harris liked thisLife Update ▶️I'm back on the job market ◀️ Looking for: - backend engineering role - nyc hybrid preferred, but willing to do full in office or strong remote culture Industry agnostic, but definitely want to be in a role that I can dive deep into the implementation of complex backend system, continue to push my 0-1 skills. I want to be building. About me: - 3 years backend engineer experience + 5 years of dev rel experience + founder experience - wrote golang in previous role, have experience in python - but can pick up any language as needed, have done some work in react and javascript - strong communication/soft skills - public speaking, documentation, and project organization - I work hard at work and outside of work - side projects include building my own linux distro, organized the net gala, and do technical content creation across multiple platforms on a regular basis - MIT grad (MEng + BS in EECS) Can start ASAP My DM's are open - if you know of any opportunities. I am also open for intros to people who you think would be a good connection.
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