Stepping back... maybe this could work out fine over the medium term?
1. Lack of junior positions means people stop training for SW Dev as a career
2. Therefore software is written by a slowly shrinking band of senior people in collaboration with increasingly-powerful AI tools.
3. By the time the last senior person retires, AI is sufficiently powerful enough that no humans are required
Of course, for this to work painlessly for everyone all the parameters need to be perfectly matched, and they won't be... But maybe something like this COULD happen
1. Lack of junior positions means people stop training for SW Dev as a career
2. Therefore software is written by a slowly shrinking band of senior people in collaboration with increasingly-powerful AI tools.
3. By the time the last senior person retires, AI is sufficiently powerful enough that no humans are required
Of course, for this to work painlessly for everyone all the parameters need to be perfectly matched, and they won't be... But maybe something like this COULD happen