Navigating Your Career with AI as a Junior Developer: Insights from Design Engineer Will King

In this episode of Guidance Counselor 2.0, host Taylor Desseyn spoke with Will King, a design engineer at CrunchyData, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping career opportunities for junior developers. Their conversation challenges common fears about AI replacing junior roles while providing practical strategies for leveraging these tools effectively.

Reframing the AI Narrative

Will brings a unique perspective to the AI discussion, having transitioned from industrial design to development and spent significant time helping others learn programming. His central thesis challenges the prevailing narrative that AI is eliminating junior developer positions.

"I think AI will definitely level up our productivity in certain ways and make us able to develop more, to try more," Will explained. "But I think it also, like with other technologies, opens the market wider because there are now more people who can do more."

Rather than reducing opportunities, Will argues that AI creates a different market structure. While there may be fewer giant companies employing hundreds of developers, there will be significantly more companies overall, each with smaller development teams. This shift means the total number of developer positions may actually increase, just distributed differently across the market.

The Critical Distinction: Crutch vs. Rocket Fuel

One of Will's most important insights centers on how junior developers should approach AI tools. He distinguishes between using AI as a "crutch" versus "rocket fuel" for career development.

"Instead of leaning on AI code, you should be using AI code to level you up. It should be focused internally," Will emphasized. "Don't be using agent mode - be using mentor mode. Use AI to teach you more about code."

This distinction is crucial because software development is fundamentally deterministic, while AI code generation can be non-deterministic. Companies are beginning to recognize this limitation, making it essential for developers to understand the reasoning behind code rather than simply generating it.

The key insight is that AI cannot replace the human ability to solve business problems or communicate technical decisions to stakeholders. As Will noted, "AI can help you write code, but AI can't help you solve your business problems. That's what people are for."

Strategic Job Search in the AI Era

Will's approach to job searching emphasizes intentionality and deep company research over mass application strategies. His methodology focuses on building trust with potential employers rather than simply demonstrating technical competence.

"I decide where I want to work because it's my career, it's my future," Will explained. "I'm not just going to say, 'please give me a job' and shoot my shot everywhere at once. I'm going to find places that I want to work and understand that company."

His process involves several key steps:

Understanding the Company: Research what type of work they do, their daily operations, company values, and the type of person they want to hire. This goes beyond reading job descriptions to truly comprehending their business model and culture.

Building Relevant Projects: Create something using their product or technology stack that demonstrates both technical capability and business understanding. This shows genuine interest and reduces the employer's risk in hiring.

Communicating Business Value: Frame your skills and projects in terms of business impact rather than technical features. Employers want to see how you'll contribute to their success, not just your coding abilities.

"They're not looking for the best developer out in the market. They're looking for someone they trust," Will emphasized. "Hiring is expensive, both emotionally and from a time and money perspective for a business."

Practical AI Implementation Strategies

For junior developers looking to leverage AI effectively, Will recommends focusing on two primary areas: building more projects and developing better decision-making skills.

Build More, Talk Less: Use AI to create actual artifacts and projects rather than spending time on lengthy descriptions of your abilities. "Nobody wants words. If somebody's hiring, I don't want to read a giant wall of text. I want to see actual artifacts of what you are doing."

Learn Decision-Making Patterns: Will shared a particularly valuable AI prompt from John Lindquist: "Give me three variations of X, then make an argument for the best one." This approach helps junior developers understand how to evaluate different solutions and think through problems systematically.

Overcome the Cold Start Problem: AI excels at helping developers enter new domains where they don't know the right terminology or concepts to research. "I don't know the words to look up, but AI can help me with the language that I do have to get the next layer down."

Real-World AI Application

In his current role at CrunchyData, Will demonstrates practical AI usage that balances efficiency with reliability. While their database software cannot use non-deterministic AI systems for core functionality, Will leverages AI for what he calls "paper cuts" - small user experience issues that accumulate over time.

"We have an incredible customer service team who identifies these and puts them in a big list," Will explained. "The number of those type of things that I can just bust through because AI can identify the issue, suggest a solution, and if I like the solution after evaluation, I can implement it quickly."

This approach shows how AI can enhance productivity on routine tasks while preserving human judgment for critical decisions.

The Importance of Community and Relationships

Despite the technical focus of the conversation, both Will and Taylor emphasized that career success ultimately depends on relationships and community engagement. Will's biggest piece of career advice reflects this priority: "Just say hey to people sooner."

Building authentic relationships in the developer community creates opportunities that technical skills alone cannot provide. This involves sharing work publicly, engaging with others' projects, and asking genuine questions about interesting work.

"At the end of the day, it's who you know," Taylor noted. "If you want people to take note of you, do something noteworthy," referencing advice from Aaron Francis about making yourself interesting to the people you want to connect with.

Looking Forward: Market Reality vs. Fear

The conversation concludes with an important reality check about current market conditions. Taylor argues that much of the AI fear is actually misplaced anxiety about the job market returning to normal after the artificial boom during COVID.

"The actual situation is hiring was crazy during COVID, and it will never hit that again. So get that out of your brain. We're now in the new normal," Taylor explained. "A lot of that previous notion is now being attached to AI taking people's jobs, and I disagree with that sentiment."

Instead of viewing AI as a threat, junior developers should see it as a tool that can accelerate their learning and productivity while focusing on the uniquely human aspects of software development: problem-solving, communication, and business understanding.

Final Thoughts

The discussion between Taylor Desseyn and Will King offers a refreshingly pragmatic view of AI's role in software development careers. Rather than replacing junior developers, AI appears poised to reshape how they work and what skills they need to prioritize.

Success in this new landscape requires a balanced approach: leverage AI tools to build more and learn faster, but focus on developing the human skills that AI cannot replicate. Most importantly, junior developers should approach their careers with intentionality, choosing where they want to work and building genuine relationships within the community.

As the industry continues to evolve, those who can effectively combine AI capabilities with strong business understanding and communication skills will find themselves well-positioned for success, regardless of their experience level.

This blog post summarizes insights from Guidance Counselor 2.0, a live streaming show hosted by Taylor Desseyn that explores career development in the tech industry. Find the full video of the episode and more here: Navigating Your Career w/AI as a Junior Dev w/Will King