It might be referring to job role rather than "age." A Staff Engineer is supposed to be inspiring (both up and down,) so doing quick tests fits the bill, and that's something LLMs are great at supporting. Mid-level is mostly about delivering reliably.
The question is if LLMs/tools could drag mid-level earlier into senior level, or if it's a phase one has to go through. Ultimately, the tangible promise of LLMs is to push the entire timeline up, so that junior tasks are automated and you go in and control the LLMs. Expectations on what it means to be a software engineer are sure to change, at some point. (I like the software craft as-is, but fact is most of our lumber is straighter now that we have automatic saws. And I've never heard a carpenter pleading to split a log manually.)
> I've never heard a carpenter pleading to split a log manually
Log splitting is a lumber mills job which has been around for nearly 2000 years. Maybe a better analogy is a nail gun? Which is actually insteresting because some of the old timers I met are actually as fast or faster with a hammer and nail as a nail gun. And hammers are still used everywhere daily by woodworkers and carpenters.
But the challenges of a carpenter are more about problem solving than brute force. How you join and the order you join can make your life a pita if you don’t have the experience. So a junior carpenter might be implementing repetive tasks or follow directions but you need experience to know how to implement a unique solution correctly on the first try and not waste hundreds of dollars of material or the clients time. Afterall “measure twice cut once” has to be learned.
The question is if LLMs/tools could drag mid-level earlier into senior level, or if it's a phase one has to go through. Ultimately, the tangible promise of LLMs is to push the entire timeline up, so that junior tasks are automated and you go in and control the LLMs. Expectations on what it means to be a software engineer are sure to change, at some point. (I like the software craft as-is, but fact is most of our lumber is straighter now that we have automatic saws. And I've never heard a carpenter pleading to split a log manually.)