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by js8 3 days ago
Yes you can learn the harness, that's a tool. But it's not the important part.

I am not anthroporphizing them. I am just saying people are a better analogy.

> seems like developers experienced with using coding agents achieve better results than those without

That doesn't mean there is a skill involved. The same goes with people - you might just be naturally charismatic and get stuff done better with people. Doesn't mean it's a learnable skill that applies to everyone and every use case.

1 comments

It's absolutely a skill. That you're putting this up as "charisma" simply shows you have not explored agentic engineering.

If you are indeed interested, this is a good beginner: https://simonwillison.net/guides/agentic-engineering-pattern...

Sorry, it's not engineering, it's cargo-culting as engineering. Engineering is based on improved formal understanding of the process, not magical incantantions. And yes I do use these things. It's like saying copy-pasting code is a skill.
Until you think using agents is a magical incantation, you will not be able to actually engage with it and develop the skill.

As evidence that it is a skill beyond copy paste, you should look around (online and offline) at the really smart people who are able to derive so much from it.