Not hiring junior engineers won't solve the problem you think you have

Companies questioning whether to hire junior engineers are repeating an old mistake in new clothing, mistakenly believing that AI tooling eliminates the need for less experienced workers. Junior engineers remain essential for talent retention, succession planning, and filling roles as experienced employees inevitably leave—promoting internally trained juniors is far more efficient than recruiting and onboarding outsiders. The real problem companies face isn't whether juniors are worth hiring, but rather how to adapt their organizational structures and support systems in an AI-influenced landscape.