Alright, I've been off Twitter most of today, but since apparently this is a thing we are doing, lets talk about junior devs as "code janitors".

Leaving aside the obvious implications of suggesting that janitors have "menial tasks", let's talk about why having juniors "clean up" (I'll call it clearing up from now on) your code is bad.

First: clearing up code is always more impactful when done by someone that truly knows the codebase. A senior dev that has been in the codebase for a bit will always be able to clear up confusing code faster.

Speed is important here - every opportunity cost or additional bit of tech debt costs the team. Long debts have high interest fees. Paying then down gets harder and harder.

Second: contrary to popular belief, a junior devs job isn't to take random shit off the seniors plates so they can do "impactful work". Seniority has nothing to do with your impact, it has to do with the expectations you have for code quality, time you take, and ability to mentor

All of those things are part of the job of a junior or a senior dev, but the degrees to which they happen change with level. Junior devs should be focused on learning the ins and outs of codebases, learning what the software does and why, and looking for code complacency.

Sidebar, code complacency is almost entirely the fault of senior engineering - the "that's just the way it works" attitude is harmful and if you aren't using new hires, esp juniors, to find and fix complacency you are missing out on a huge value they bring.

Third: a junior engineer is a nothing more than a senior in training. Give them the resources and time they need and they will become seniors. There are tons of resources they need, but one thing that def isn't a resource is "cleaning up code".

Someday ill make another thread of more resources, but let's stay on topic here.

Putting juniors on clearing up code almost undoubtedly will lead to higher churn, more tech debt, and wasted potential.

This industry is already filled with bullshit gatekeeping and this kind of thing just makes it harder and harder for people to find good jobs as juniors where they can learn the trade. Having influencial voices spout absurd ideas like this doesn't help.