On bothering seniors

I read a suggestion online that “junior software developers” could talk to a large language model (LLM) instead of bothering senior developers with their “easy” questions. Apparently, the juniors are seen as “distracting” the seniors from their important work.

The suggestion was that juniors could use the LLM to “level up” until they are “advanced enough” to consult the seniors.

There are so many things wrong here that I felt compelled to share some thoughts.

If you are bothered by questions (no matter how “easy”) from your colleagues, then I’m sorry, but you’re not a senior developer. Answering such questions is not a distraction from your work—it is your work. One of the most important roles of senior developers is to mentor others.

The belief that “juniors” are somehow less capable than “seniors” could also benefit from some critical thought. I see lots of great ideas and outside-the-box thinking from newcomers. Sometimes, having a fresh perspective on your own old ways is enough to make a difference. We need diversity in thinking.

Implicit in the original suggestion was the assumption that work is divided in such a way that people work individually on separate tasks. In this model, the “senior” is effectively a solo developer working on their own “important” tasks, which the “unimportant” juniors shouldn’t distract from.

This is not teamwork and never has been. I don’t know when things took a wrong turn and this operating model became the standard in our industry, but it’s truly unfortunate.

I would encourage experimenting with social programming practices like pair programming or mob programming. It’s infinitely better to “level up” with a real, thinking person than with a text generator.

The best part is that you’re not leveling up just one person.