The Wall Street Journal reported on Stanford research showing entry-level software engineering hiring at major tech companies dropped more than 50 percent over three years. Salesforce hired zero new engineers in fiscal year 2026. Amazon eliminated more than 14,000 corporate roles in late 2025. Stanford's Digital Economy Lab found employment for software developers aged 22 to 25 fell nearly 20 percent from its late 2022 peak. 

 Soren Kaplan breaks down why the software story is not a tech sector story. AI absorbs codifiable work first, the junior pathway shrinks, and what remains requires accumulated judgment that only comes from depth of experience. The same pattern is arriving in every knowledge profession and most workforce plans built before AI scaled are already behind. 

This episode covers three things leaders can do now: creating stretch experiences for early-career employees by involving them in complex decisions before they are officially ready, building structured coaching and reflection into the development pipeline, and defining and measuring judgment growth across their talent pool. 

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Learn more about Soren's work at https://sorenkaplan.com.