The gap we're not talking about, yet.

There's a gap coming in five to ten years.

AI and technology are taking over a lot of junior work, and today's juniors are tomorrow's seniors. They learn the trade doing the entry-level work, usually under the eye of someone more experienced and it's those runs on the board that turn them into experienced people.

If AI does more of that entry-level work instead, fewer juniors get hired. Fewer people get those runs on the board. The pipeline that produces experienced people quietly dries up. It won't show up straight away. It'll show up in five or ten years, when today's experienced people move on and there aren't enough people coming through to replace them.

I personally don't think there's one fix for this. But it's worth throwing a few thoughts into the mix.

The obvious answer is an internship or mentorship scheme, backed by industry and government. That already exists, right? Summer of Tech is already doing this, connecting junior tech talent with businesses with some government support behind them. The infrastructure and experience are there.

But I think there's a case for central government investing more, not just in more placements, but in the businesses taking people on. A proper partnership between industry and central government, where funding helps a business build the capacity to mentor someone well, not just cover the junior's wage while they're there.

The common barrier I keep seeing and hearing is businesses not having the roles or the capacity to take someone on and support them properly. The programmes exist. The willing junior exists. What's often missing is a business with the structure to make it work.

That's a different problem to solve than "build another programme." It's about businesses having the time and senior people available to mentor someone well, not just have them on the books.

Also, is there a bridge between study and work that we're missing? Something like a transition school, a structured step between finishing study and landing a full role, built for this problem rather than bolted onto existing programmes. Does our education system need to change?

I don't have the answer yet. But that capacity gap inside businesses feels like the real constraint, more than any gap in the schemes themselves.

Photo by Jon Tyson