> I’m honestly uncertain about the junior engineers I’m working with who are more productive than they might be otherwise, but are gaining zero (or very little) experience.

Well, (economic) progress means being able to do more with less. A Fordian-style conveyor belt factory can churn out cars with relatively unskilled labour.

Economising on human capital is economising on a scarce input.

We had these kinds of shifts before. Compare also how planes used to have a pilot, copilot and flight engineer. We don't have that anymore, but it used to be a place for people to learn. But pilot education has adapted.

Or check how spreadsheet software has removed a lot of the worst rote work in finance. That change happened perhaps in the 1980s. Finance has adapted.

> Opus helped me brick my RPi CM4 today. It glibly apologized for telling to use an e instead of a 6 in a boot loader sequence.

Yes, these things do best when they have a (simulated) environment they can make mistakes in and that can give them clear and fast feedback.