Since the beginning of this year, we've been hearing a lot about "agentic coding"—where AI agents handle the coding—everywhere. While we no longer write programs ourselves and instead focus entirely on giving instructions to AI agents via prompts, many people likely find themselves wondering, "What exactly should I learn to write good prompts?" So, today, I'd like to explore this topic using an experiment conducted at ETH Zurich as our guide.
1. Overview of the Experiment
The reference for this discussion is the paper titled "Computer Science Achievement and Writing Skills Predict Vibe Coding Proficiency (1)." They gathered 100 students who first took tests to measure their writing skills, computer science achievement, and general cognitive abilities. I've summarized these three foundational skills below.
Three Foundational Skills
Afterward, to measure their "agentic coding" proficiency, the participants reviewed a sample application, drafted prompts for an LLM-based agent, tested the generated application, and then further refined it. The final applications were evaluated by human graders.
Measuring "Agentic Coding" Proficiency
This process reveals the relationship between the three foundational skills and agentic coding proficiency.
2. As Expected, Computer Science Skills Mattered
As the results below show, computer science skills were most strongly correlated with agentic coding proficiency, showing a correlation coefficient of 0.39. Writing skills also showed a significant correlation, with a coefficient of 0.29. Here is a summary of the results.
Skills Correlated with Agentic Coding Proficiency
Now, some of you might find this a bit puzzling. Computer science skills are primarily centered around programming, whereas in agentic coding, humans don't actually write code directly. So, why did computer science skills show such a high correlation? The research paper explains it as follows:
"It may have contributed through problem decomposition or mental models of control flow and state."
It's certainly true that people hone these kinds of abilities through the practice of programming. If that's the case, it makes perfect sense that individuals with strong computer science skills would perform well, even in natural language-driven agentic coding.
3. How Those with No Programming Experience Can Become Excellent Agentic Coders
Based on our discussion so far, I'd like to explore a new approach on "how people with no programming experience can become excellent agentic coders." As agentic coding becomes more widespread, it might be inevitable that the incentive to learn traditional programming will fade. However, the following skills are still absolutely essential for mastering agentic coding:
The ability to decompose tasks
The ability to understand system flows
The ability to expand your vocabulary and accurately define requirements in writing
For those without programming experience, deliberately focusing on and studying these specific points alongside your regular prompt writing practice will likely accelerate your improvement. This is something you can start doing right away today. I highly recommend it!
What do you think? While we focused on "agentic coding" today, the insights we've gained go far beyond just "coding"—they can be seen as universal skills for unlocking the true potential of AI agents. As AI agents become integrated into various fields in the future, these skills will essentially become mandatory subjects for all of us. Here at ToshiStats, we will continue to discuss the collaboration between business professionals and AI agents. Stay tuned!
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1) Computer Science Achievement and Writing Skills Predict Vibe Coding Proficiency, Sverrir Thorgeirsson, Theo B. Weidmann, Zhendong Su. 14 Mar 2026
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