Has AI started replacing junior software developers?
In This Article:
Investing.com -- In a note this week, Barclays analysts told investors that, using job posting data, it has investigated whether the introduction of AI has begun to impact junior software developer roles.
Their analysis, spanning the S&P 500, the broader Tech sector, and the Magnificent Seven companies (excluding Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)), reveals diverging trends.
Advertisement: High Yield Savings Offers
Barclays defines a "Jr. Software Developer (Jr. SDE) role as the one requiring less than three years of experience and a job title that includes the string ’software develop.’"
The bank calculated the ratio of junior SDE roles to total job postings monthly, stating that "the ratio of Jr. SDE roles to total job postings has declined in the S&P 500 and Tech sector since 2022," while it "peaked in early 2025 for the Magnificent Seven companies (excluding Amazon)."
To assess the impact of AI, Barclays conducted a regression analysis, correlating the junior SDE-to-total job posting ratio with the "number of months since ChatGPT’s release."
For the S&P 500, they "observe a significant negative relationship between the number of months since ChatGPT’s release and the ratio of Jr. SDE roles to total job postings."
The bank says this trend is also present in the broader tech sector, though not statistically significant.
In contrast, "the Magnificent Seven companies show a significant positive relationship – suggesting that as time since ChatGPT increases, so does the share of Jr. SDE roles in their job postings."
Barclays notes that "Several factors could explain these differences," such as job postings not perfectly reflecting hiring activity, or large tech firms, as primary AI developers, "most actively reshaping junior developer roles."
Related articles
Has AI started replacing junior software developers?