Does anyone else think that effective and economical token management will become a job skill that employers are looking for? Recently, Ethan Mollick suggested that, “If you are considering taking a job offer, you may want to ask what your token budget will be.” (link: https://x.com/emollick/status/2019621077970993265 ) After a bit of experimentation with Claude Code, I’ve realized that my current coding practice of iterating conversationally with Claude from the command line is wasteful as far as token consumption is concerned. It’s super helpful from a pedagogical perspective, but extremely inefficient use of tokens. In theory, I should be trying to do all of the planning and conceptualization separately, storing clear requirements in markdown documents, relying on Claude only for actual code implementation, and clearing context regularly. So far, I’ve not exceeded the limits of my $100 max plan, so I’m continuing to use my inefficient system of chatting from the command line. It’s helping me learn and understand more about the underlying code. Eventually, when I bump up the limits, I will work on more efficient coding practices. Also, as many folks have noted, token costs are clearly being subsidized by the AI companies in order to build their user base. At some point, especially if there is a market correction, there is likely to be an adjustment and tokens will be far more expensive. In such a scenario, it seems that effective and economical token management will be a crucial skill/practice that employers require when hiring a new employee. Is my theory wildly off base? Currently on sabbatical, I’m a college professor who occasionally teaches introductory courses on AI and web development to liberal arts students. If token management will become an essential skill – or if people think it already is an essential skill – I will start thinking about ways to convey this to my students as they begin to interact with these tools. submitted by /u/neitherzeronorone
Originally posted by u/neitherzeronorone on r/ClaudeCode
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