How Artificial Intelligence Disrupts Engineering Progression
TechTarget, Tuesday, August 19th, 2025
AI removes the learning rungs on the career ladder while letting people perform above their experience.
Speaking at QCon London, Alasdair Allan argued that AI disrupts engineering career progression by eliminating the learning opportunities at each rung while simultaneously enabling people to perform above their actual experience level.
Fewer junior developers are entering the industry, and AI is slowing hiring at the entry level specifically. The combination is structurally awkward: the tasks that used to build judgment are the ones now automated. His talk, Engineering Progression When AI Ate the Middle, frames this as a pipeline problem organizations will feel several years out rather than immediately.