Economic Thinking

Comparing Level 1 and Level 2

Level 1

Level 2

Description

At Level 1, economic thinking isn't really on your radar yet—and that's totally okay. Your focus is on delivering technically correct work and learning the ropes of the team and product. If financial implications cross your mind, it's usually because someone else brought them up. This level is about developing awareness: that code has cost, time is money, and not all solutions are created equal—even if they work.

Description

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

  • •
    Focuses on implementing correct solutions to meet requirements
  • •
    Relies on others to flag cost, performance, or complexity concerns
  • •
    Is curious when economic trade-offs are discussed
  • •
    Starts to ask: "Why are we doing it this way?"
  • •
    Is open to feedback about overengineering or misaligned effort

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

  • Assumes the most technically elegant solution is the best one
  • Doesn't yet grasp the concept of opportunity cost or ROI
  • May spend lots of time on low-impact problems
  • Confuses "works well" with "worth doing"
  • Reluctant to challenge scope or suggest simpler paths

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

  • Build awareness that time and complexity have a price
  • Start listening for how decisions impact customers, budgets, or timelines
  • Ask questions that connect engineering choices to business outcomes
  • Avoid overbuilding by checking in when unsure

Success Indicators

  • 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:

"If it works, it's good."

To:

"If it's the right level of investment, it's good."

Mindset Shift

From:

"I should avoid waste."

To:

"I can help us invest wisely."

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • What's the cost of building this vs. the value it adds?
  • Could we solve this with a smaller or faster approach?
  • Who else is affected by the time or resources this takes?

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
    Clarify "why now" before jumping into a fix or feature
  • 2
    Practice estimating rough effort or cost—even informally
  • 3
    Compare multiple solutions, not just for correctness, but for cost/benefit
  • 4
    Observe which tasks the team prioritizes and why

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

  • "Was there a simpler way I could have approached this?"
  • "How do we usually decide what's worth building?"
  • "Am I spending time where it matters most?"

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 ask about effort, not just implementation
  • You catch yourself before overbuilding
  • You're curious about the "why" behind product priorities

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

  • Ask why
  • Stay curious
  • Spend your effort wisely

Economic thinking starts with awareness. You don't need to be a CFO—you just need to start seeing that every line of code has a cost. Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is not build the thing.

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.