Young Coders Are Using AI for Everything, Giving "Blank Stares" When Asked How Programs Actually Work

Are Junior Developers Losing Their Coding Skills?

For years, the advice for aspiring job seekers was simple: "Learn to code." Ironically, some programmers today might need to follow that same advice.

Namanyay Goel, an experienced developer, has expressed concerns about the new generation’s heavy reliance on AI-assisted coding tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude, and ChatGPT.

"Every junior developer I talk to has one of these tools running constantly. They’re shipping code faster than ever," Goel wrote in his blog post, New Junior Developers Can’t Actually Code.

While AI-assisted coding speeds up development, Goel argues that it is weakening fundamental problem-solving skills. "Sure, the code works, but ask why it works that way instead of another way? Silence. Ask about edge cases? Blank stares," he wrote.

In the past, developers had to wrestle with problems, often turning to resources like Stack Overflow to understand different perspectives. Now, with AI providing instant answers, many junior developers skip that crucial learning process.

"With Stack Overflow, you had to read multiple expert discussions to get the full picture," Goel explained. "It was slower, but you came out understanding not just what worked, but why it worked."

His concerns are not just opinion—research supports the idea that increased AI reliance can weaken critical thinking. A study by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon found that the more people relied on AI-generated answers, the more their analytical skills declined.

There’s also the issue of AI-generated errors. While AI speeds up workflows, it often inserts mistakes, creating a tradeoff between efficiency and accuracy.

Despite these challenges, Goel doesn’t advocate abandoning AI entirely. Instead, he believes the real issue isn’t whether we use AI, but how we use it.

"We’re trading deep understanding for quick fixes," he warns. "We’re going to pay for this later."