The narrative goes something like: AI is pulling the ladder up for junior devs. Seniors are multiplying their value. The gap is widening.

I spent ten years dragging many of those seniors out of Gitflow. They’re not all thought leaders on LinkedIn – they spend half their time navigating org charts. TDD was too wild for them, XP just a naive dream. How many will adapt fast enough?

Even people prepared to change are constrained by orgs that aren’t. Most orgs are trying to fit AI into existing structures instead of rethinking them. Untangling the gordian knot of each org takes great leadership, effort, and time. How many will adapt fast enough?

This is the great flattening. The next generation doesn’t need a ladder to waterfall thinking, sprint planning, and 3 square meetings a day. They don’t need narrow roles, outdated processes, or $30M in seed funding. They don’t need to adapt – only grow. They can just build things for people.

It’s the orgs pulling up ladders that should be worried.