Industry Analysis

Entering Tech in 2025: Why My Business Degree is Now My "Senior" Dev

Taninwat Kaewpankan
2025-12-03
5 min read

I'll be honest: entering the tech industry as a junior developer right now is terrifying.

You see the headlines everywhere. A recent Stanford study showed that employment for entry-level developers (ages 22-25) has dropped nearly 20% since 2022. Big Tech companies are hiring fewer graduates, and AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT can write in seconds what takes me hours to debug.

For a moment, I wondered: Did I just spend years studying a skill that's becoming obsolete?

But after digging into the data—and using these tools daily—I've realized something surprising. AI isn't replacing me; it's promoting me.

The "Junior" Advantage (Backed by Data)

There is a common narrative that AI helps seniors the most. But the data says the opposite.

Research on GitHub Copilot shows that while it makes everyone faster, junior developers actually see the biggest relative productivity gains. Why? because AI acts as the "Senior Developer" we don't always have sitting next to us.

  • It bridges the syntax gap: I don't need to memorize every Regex pattern or CSS grid property.
  • It unblocks "Stuck" moments: What used to be a 4-hour rabbit hole on Stack Overflow is now a 5-minute conversation with an LLM.

Skipping the "Code Monkey" Phase

Traditionally, a junior developer's first 2-3 years are spent on "grunt work"—moving pixels, fixing typos, and writing boilerplate. You earn your right to think about Product only after you've mastered Syntax.

AI has collapsed that timeline.

Because I spend 50% less time wrestling with syntax, I have 50% more time to focus on what actually matters: The User and The Business.

Where My Economics Background Fits In

This is where my non-traditional path becomes my superpower.

In a world where writing code is cheap, the value shifts to knowing what code to write. Companies don't just need people who can build features; they need people who can build the right features.

With my background in Business & Economics, I'm not just asking "How do I build this component?" I'm asking:

  1. Is this feature worth the engineering hours? (Cost-Benefit Analysis)
  2. Does this user flow actually convert? (Behavioral Economics)
  3. How does this impact the bottom line? (Business Strategy)

The New "Junior" Role

I am not trying to be a "10x Engineer" yet. I am trying to be a 1x Product Engineer.

The job isn't just "writing JavaScript" anymore. It's about orchestrating AI tools to solve business problems. The future belongs to developers who can speak two languages: Code and Value.

So, while the job market is tougher, I'm optimistic. I'm not competing with AI; I'm hiring it as my intern.