The hidden risk when you hire augmented developers

My biggest concern for companies hiring augmented developers: half the profiles you interview are no longer good enough to deliver without AI, and someone else can switch off their speed overnight.

The senior on your invoice starts working like a junior the day the tool changes its pricing, limits or access. This is already happening. The only thing stopping it from becoming a real issue for buyers is fierce competition between vendors.

Any staff augmentation contract you sign needs to make sure it doesn't create two tiers inside your own team:

• Developers who understand the code and use AI to move faster
• Developers who only paste and pray

Ask how a vendor's engineers work when the tools are taken away. The answer tells you which tier you're paying for.