The recent paper “Professional Software Developers Don’t Vibe, They Control” is a solid read. The authors studied experienced developers using coding agents and found what most of us already know in practice: pros don’t hand over the wheel. They plan, they steer, they verify.
I read it as confirmation that agents are now part of the craft.
We used to treat AI tools like optional experiments. Fun to try, easy to ignore. That era is over.
Coding agents now sit in the same category as version control, code review, and tests. Those practices are required to ship professional software, even when they are boring and slow.
I hear this a lot: “My work is too complex for LLMs.” Maybe. It usually means you haven’t figured out how to use them well yet.
Agents are force multipliers. If you have taste, they help you move faster. If you don’t, they help you move wrong faster. The solution is to learn the skill and use them with intent.
We’re past the point where AI use is a personal preference. It’s a professional capability. People who can steer agents well will ship more, learn faster, and have more leverage. People who can’t will be left behind by those who can.
That isn’t hype. It’s the same dynamic we saw with every other shift in tooling. The ones who mastered version control, testing, and CI didn’t just move faster. They raised the bar for everyone else, and everyone else had to catch up.
The paper is right. Professional teams control agents. Vibes are just noise. And now, controlling agents is part of the job, even if it feels a bit awkward at first.