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Beyond Autocomplete: How We Are Building an Agentic Engineering Culture at Scale By Anoop Sharma

At RTCTek, we believe in learning from the architects who are defining the future. We are honored to host Anoop Sharma, Director of Platform Engineering at Penn Foster Group and Judge for our 2026 AI Innovation Hackathon, to share his visionary framework for Agentic Engineering.

The Shift from “Coding” to “Conducting”

The AI race is everywhere in IT, but speed without strategy is a recipe for technical debt. My belief is simple: look around, be wise, be informed, and use tools correctly rather than duplicating effort. At Penn Foster Group, my vision is to move beyond basic ‘AI assistants’ and embrace Agentic Workflows. We don’t just want faster typing; we want autonomous problem-solving where the engineer acts as the Commander.

 

The “Intern” Agent (Handling the Backlog)

We implemented a custom GitHub Coding Agent workflow to tackle the backlog of important-but-not-urgent tasks. Led by our innovative engineering leads, we built a system where a Jira ticket automatically spins up an AI agent to write code and run tests. This turns our senior engineers into ‘Architects’ who review high-level logic, while the AI handles the implementation.

 

Mastering the Ecosystem (The Best-in-Class Approach)

The goal is not to build every tool from scratch, but to be a Master Craftsman of the existing AI ecosystem. We leverage the best the industry has to offer to create a seamless engineering fabric:
 
Contextual Intelligence: We use the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for App Insights, plugging our infrastructure directly into the AI’s “brain” to eliminate hallucinations.
 
Institutional Memory: We leverage Atlassian Rovo to allow AI to read existing code and Jira stories, automatically generating documentation that stays in sync with our goals.
 
Execution Power: We use GitHub Copilot as our engine for coding efficiency.

 

The New Engineering Discipline

This requires a shift in mindset. We aren’t just training our team on syntax; we are training them on:
 
Governance: Writing the copilot-instructions.md rulebook to maintain architectural integrity.
 
Review Rigor: Treating AI code with the same scrutiny as a junior developer.
 
Craftsmanship: Mastering how to feed the right context to the agents to achieve 99.5% reliability.

 

Conclusion

The Future is Autonomous AI is just a tool until we unpack its true power. There is immense leverage if used wisely from query assistants that know your schema to ‘Digital Developers’ that automate the routine. We are no longer just developers; we are AI conductors.
 
As I judge the RTCTek AI Innovation Hackathon, I am looking for this exact mindset: innovators who don’t just use AI, but who craft and orchestrate it in a perfect way to solve the hardest problems in our industry.

About The Author

Anoop Sharma
Director of Platform Engineering, Penn Foster Group

Anoop Sharma is an award-winning technology leader and internationally recognized authority in the EdTech sector. He currently serves as Director of Platform Engineering at Penn Foster Group, where he leads the architecture of the NewLeaf ecosystem. With deep expertise in driving digital transformation for global educational platforms, Anoop has pioneered high-reliability frameworks, including Zero-Downtime Migration Protocols that support millions of learners worldwide.

Under his strategic leadership, the NewLeaf initiative earned the 2025 Anthology Catalyst Award for Student Success. A prominent voice in Agentic Engineering, Anoop also contributes as a Judge and Mentor for the RTCTek AI Innovation Hackathon, guiding and evaluating emerging AI innovations.