A progression framework describing 8 levels of AI-assisted engineering, from basic tab completion to autonomous agent teams. Covers context engineering, compounding engineering (plan-delegate-assess-codify loops), MCP/skills integration, harness engineering with automated feedback loops, background agents with orchestration patterns, and experimental multi-agent coordination. Includes practical examples like custom CLI tools, shared skill registries, using different models for different roles, and decoupling implementation from review. Argues Level 7 (background agents) is where most teams should focus today, while Level 8 (autonomous agent teams) remains an active frontier with unsolved coordination challenges.