Technology & professional standards
Bring together practitioners, researchers, industry and other stakeholders to develop practical standards for trustworthy agentic systems and responsible professional practice.
Professional standards for the agentic era
AI is moving from assisting work to performing it.
CSDA is helping define the standards that should govern increasingly autonomous technology — while helping the people who built the digital economy adapt, reskill and move into the opportunities that come next.
Professional operating model Agentic transition
Human professional
Direct · Judge · Assure
Architecture, supervision, accountability
delegatesevidence
Autonomous systems
Plan · Build · Test · Act
Bounded authority, traceability, controls
01StandardsWhat good looks like
02SkillsWhat people need next
03OpportunityWhere people can move
Autonomous software engineering
Agent trust & assurance
Human-agent professional practice
Workforce transition
01
The shift
Professional work is becoming agentic.
Software development is moving beyond AI-assisted coding. Increasingly capable agents can plan tasks, write and review code, run tools, test systems and operate with growing levels of autonomy.
That changes the question for the profession. We must define not only what a competent technology professional looks like, but also what competence, authority, traceability and accountability should mean when software begins to build software.
01Human-authoredProfessionals write and execute the work.
02AI-assistedAI accelerates tasks under close human direction.
03AgenticAI plans and performs multi-step work with bounded autonomy.
04AutonomousHuman roles shift toward direction, judgment and assurance.
02
Our mission
Standards for agents. Opportunity for people.
CSDA is a global professional association for technology professionals, advancing professional standards and workforce readiness for an increasingly autonomous digital economy.
Future of work & professional transition
Study workforce impact and help technology professionals adapt through reskilling, professional recognition and pathways into emerging roles in the agentic economy.
03
Agentic standards
What should we expect from an autonomous software engineer?
CSDA's emerging standards agenda focuses on the professional and operational conditions required before AI agents should be trusted with increasingly consequential software-engineering work.
Competence
Can the agent perform the task reliably and within defined acceptance criteria?
Code integrity
Does its output meet quality, security, maintainability and testing requirements?
Authority
What systems, repositories, tools, credentials and environments may it access?
Traceability
Can its decisions, actions, tool use and changes be reconstructed and reviewed?
Autonomy
What may it do independently, and where is human approval still required?
Accountability
Who remains responsible when autonomous work creates technical or real-world harm?
Emerging work programmeAgentic Software Engineering Standards
Frameworks for autonomy levels, agent competency, professional practice and evidence-based assurance.
04
Future of the professional
Helping people move from doing every task to directing, supervising and assuring intelligent systems.
CSDA's responsibility does not end with standards for technology. As agentic systems change the structure of professional work, members need practical ways to understand what is changing, build new capabilities and move into roles where human judgment remains valuable.
Our focus is responsible transition: helping technology professionals stay relevant, demonstrate new competencies and access new opportunities.
Agent orchestrationSystem architectureAI-generated code reviewAgent evaluationCybersecurityAI assuranceRequirements engineeringContext engineeringHuman oversightAgent permissions & controls
05
Member transition pathway
Assess. Reskill. Demonstrate. Recognise. Transition.
Assess
Understand which parts of your current role are changing and map existing capabilities against emerging agentic competencies.
Reskill
Build practical capabilities for directing, evaluating, securing and assuring autonomous systems.
Demonstrate
Apply those capabilities through real-world, evidence-based projects rather than knowledge tests alone.
Recognise
Use CSDA professional recognition to demonstrate continued competence as the profession evolves.
Transition
Connect reskilled professionals with employers and emerging roles through the CSDA professional network.
06
Professional recognition
CSD™
Chartered Software Developer evolves with the profession.
CSD™ continues to recognise professional competence, but the capabilities expected of technology professionals are changing. Future CSDA pathways will increasingly reflect the ability to direct, supervise, evaluate and assure AI-enabled and agentic systems.
Agentic Software Engineering
AI Assurance
Secure AI Systems
System Architecture
Professional Accountability
Enquire about CSD™ ↗
07
Talent transition network
Reskill people. Surface capability. Connect opportunity.
Move into the next role.
Support for members affected by changing technology roles, including capability mapping, reskilling pathways and visibility to employers seeking agentic-ready talent.
Hire for the agentic workforce.
Connect with technology professionals developing practical capabilities in AI engineering, agent evaluation, assurance, security and human-agent operations.
Shape the transition.
Collaborate on standards, skills frameworks, workforce impact studies and responsible pathways through technological change.
08
Research, standards & policy
Building an evidence base for the agentic economy.
CSDA works across professional practice, technology standards and labour-market impact. Our research agenda is designed to turn emerging technological change into practical guidance for professionals, employers and institutions.
01Agentic software engineeringProfessional standards, autonomy and accountability
02Workforce transitionSkills impact, displacement, redeployment and opportunity
03Trust & assuranceEvidence, testing, oversight and responsible autonomy
04Professional practiceHuman-agent collaboration and evolving competency
09
Membership & participation
Don't navigate the agentic transition alone.
CSDA is building a professional community for people and institutions shaping the next era of technology work. Participate as a professional, employer, academic institution, researcher or industry partner.
The next profession is being defined now