Is AI Already Replacing Junior Devs? | AI Panel Discussion | Perth Mobile App Developers Meetup

Richard, Mike, Brian, and Aaron take on the hot topic of AI!

“Junior developers? That’s now. You can replace junior developers now. Full stop.”

“If it’s there, what have you built and commercialised and leveraged to prove that?”

Our panel of industry experts didn’t hold back on the reality of AI’s impact on software development at the last Perth Mobile App Developers Meetup!

Some argued AI is already eating away at entry-level roles, with senior developers using it like a personal coding assistant. Others pushed back, pointing out that AI still lacks responsibility, agency, and the ability to own a project.

Richard Giles (CEO at Adapptor), Mike Weaver (Technical Specialist at Insight), Brian Foody (Founder at VerticalAI), and Aaron Collyer (CPO at Veloceo) tackled the big questions: When do we think AI will be good enough to take over software engineering? How should junior devs adapt to this reality? And does AI actually speed up software development, or just create a different kind of mess?

Beyond software, the conversation touched on the broader implications of AI: how it's reshaping industries, how little most people are actually using it, and whether we’re heading towards a fundamental economic refactoring of our society.

Want to be part of the next debate? Check out the Meetup page for upcoming events and be part of the conversation:

www.meetup.com/perth-mobile-app-developers