Agentic Programming · AI-Native Development Consulting

Helping engineering teams become AI-native.

The biggest impact of AI on software development isn’t faster code — it’s a shift in what your team can reliably delegate. I help teams make that shift.

I’m Jerod W. Wilkerson — a software-engineering leader, educator, and author with three decades of experience across industry and academia. Through J. Wilkerson Consulting I take on a small number of selective consulting engagements in agentic programming and AI-native development.

Author of Agentic Programming — From Prompts to Production. Availability is limited to roughly one day per week.

How I Help

Focused, senior-level consulting — assessment, architecture, and hands-on guidance — tailored to where your team is today and where it’s trying to go.

1

Agentic Programming & Harness Design

Help teams build or adopt an agentic harness and move from AI-assisted coding to workflow-based, verified execution — the architecture that makes higher-leverage delegation reliable enough to trust.

2

AI-Native Development Strategy

Assess where your team sits on the AI Fluency Ladder and chart a practical path to higher-leverage delegation — the tooling, workflows, and habits that move a team up the ladder.

3

Software Architecture & Code-Quality Review

Independent review of object-oriented architecture, design patterns, and software quality — a clear-eyed outside read on where your codebase is strong and where it will slow you down.

4

Agile Team Turnaround & Engineering Leadership

Diagnose and fix struggling agile teams — process, structure, motivation, and delivery. At Rakuten Marketing this approach increased one team’s velocity by over 500%.

Selected Experience

Three decades alternating between industry and academia — as an engineer, consultant, founder, manager, director, and professor.

2018–Present

Professor & Associate Chair of Computer Science — Brigham Young University

Teach the software-engineering core; author of Agentic Programming and builder of a working agentic harness that coordinates AI coding agents through workflows, verification, retries, and recovery.

2017–2018

Software Engineering Director — Rakuten Marketing

Led three agile teams building a real-time bidding and ad-serving platform; turned around two struggling teams, increasing one team’s velocity by over 500%.

2014–2017

Senior Development Manager — Workfront

Managed a 23-engineer, geographically distributed QA organization embedded in agile teams; led development of a new test framework for a micro-services architecture.

2008–2014

Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems — Penn State Erie, The Behrend College

Taught information systems and software-development courses in the Black School of Business and conducted research on software engineering and software quality.

2000–2004

President & Founder — The Object Center

Founded and ran an object-oriented and web consulting company (now closed), delivering enterprise Java and web projects, including work for GM / McCracken Financial Software and State of Utah agencies.

1994–2000

Earlier consulting & engineering roles

Senior consulting and engineering roles at Software Technology Group, Information Technology International, Filoli Information Systems, and Price Waterhouse (U.S. Department of Defense).

Selected Clients

Over the course of a 30-year career, consulting engagements have served organizations from startups to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, including:

  • U.S. Department of Defense
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Raytheon Missile Systems
  • J.P. Morgan Chase
  • GMAC
  • General Motors
  • Iomega
  • State of Utah

Past engagements across a multi-decade career. Listed as experience, not as an endorsement by these organizations.

About

Photo of Jerod W. Wilkerson

Jerod W. Wilkerson is a Professor and Associate Chair of the Computer Science Department at Brigham Young University and the author of Agentic Programming — From Prompts to Production: A Path to AI Fluency. Over three decades he has worked as a software engineer, consultant, founder, engineering manager, engineering director, and professor — alternating between industry and academia.

His work on software engineering and software quality has appeared in leading journals, including IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, and his consulting has spanned organizations from startups to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. His current focus is agentic programming, agentic harnesses, and how the role of the software engineer changes as AI systems become more capable.

He holds a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona and B.S. and M.S. degrees from Brigham Young University, and is a Certified ScrumMaster.

LinkedIn · The book

Let’s talk about your team

If your team is adopting AI-native development, rethinking its architecture, or working to deliver more reliably, I’d be glad to discuss whether an engagement makes sense.

Discuss an Engagement

Or email jerod.wilkerson@gmail.com directly.