> you'd be able to identify and measure it before it manifests in a skill

We actually have a pretty high degree of predictive power here using genetic testing, and we’ve only just started enumerating these predictors.

> the enormous amount of focus

Available focus is genetically predicted.

> I'm a pretty good programmer. I didn't get that way because of some supernatural force or mystical spirit

Genetics aren’t supernatural or mystical.

> I wasn't born knowing how to program.

You were born with some traits that made you (on expectation) better or worse at it.