Economic Thinking

At Level 2, you're not just aware that engineering has economic implications—you're starting to factor them in. You ask questions about impact, make an effort to understand scope, and consider whether the juice is worth the squeeze. You may not make product trade-offs yourself, but you know when to raise your hand and say, "Is this worth it?" That's a sign of growing judgment.

Key Behaviors

  • Asks about the value or urgency of proposed work
  • Looks for efficient solutions—not just clever ones
  • Spots when scope feels heavy relative to payoff
  • Suggests simpler or phased versions of solutions
  • Begins to weigh technical debt or complexity against benefits

Common Struggles

  • May second-guess decisions too early or too often
  • Occasionally proposes shortcuts that miss critical details
  • Can struggle to balance engineering idealism with pragmatic constraints
  • Not yet confident in influencing product or business conversations

Success Indicators

You know you're successful when you:

  • Bring up value and efficiency in your day-to-day work
  • Don't overbuild—you look for "good enough" when appropriate
  • Communicate when you think a feature or fix may not be worth the effort
  • Start recognizing broader trade-offs in team planning

Mindset Shift

From:

"I should avoid waste."

To:

"I can help us invest wisely."

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • What are we really trying to accomplish?
  • Where's the biggest return on effort?
  • How could this solution scale—or get expensive?

Build These Habits

  • 1
    Bring cost/value trade-offs into pull request comments and design docs
  • 2
    Look for ways to simplify during planning—not just implementation
  • 3
    Track which types of work deliver the most impact over time

Seek Feedback

  • "Did my solution hit the right balance of cost and value?"
  • "Where do I tend to over-optimize—or under-invest?"
  • "Am I helping the team use our time wisely?"

Signals You're Ready to Level Up

  • You speak credibly about cost/value trade-offs
  • Your work consistently lands in the high-impact zone
  • Others come to you to sanity-check effort vs. payoff

Focus Summary

  • Value your time
  • Respect the budget
  • Build what matters

At Level 2, you're no longer just executing—you're thinking. And more importantly, you're thinking like someone who knows that time, complexity, and attention are finite resources.