What the Heck is Platform Engineering?

Platform engineering is a discipline within software engineering that focuses on designing, building, and maintaining a foundational platform or infrastructure that supports application development, deployment, and operation.

It’s about building tools, workflows, and infrastructure that streamline the development process, allowing developers to focus on building features rather than worrying about underlying complexities.

Platform engineering can be considered as making a smooth highway for your developers so that they can avoid that bumpy ride. It can help in improving the overall developer experience. This enriches the overall development experience as it minimises the overall cumbersome task that is repetitive in nature.

Key Components of Platform Engineering.

• Internal Developer Platform (IDP): This is the core product of platform engineering. It provides a self-service environment for developers to access resources, tools, and services.

• Self-Service Capabilities: Developers should be able to independently provision environments, deploy applications, and manage their resources without heavy reliance on platform teams.

• Automation: Platform engineering heavily relies on automation to streamline processes and reduce manual effort.

• Developer Experience (DX): A great platform enhances developer experience by providing intuitive tools and reducing friction.

• Collaboration: Platform engineers work closely with development teams to understand their needs and build solutions accordingly.

• Infrastructure Management: Managing and automating the underlying infrastructure, which can include servers, networks, storage, and cloud resources.

• Developer Tools and Services: Providing tools and services such as version control systems, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, monitoring, logging, and alerting systems.

• Scalability and Reliability: Ensuring that the platform can scale to meet the demands of the applications running on it and maintaining high availability and reliability.

• Security and Compliance: Implementing security measures and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and standards.

• Cost Optimization: Managing and optimizing the cost of running the infrastructure and platform services.

Benefits of Platform Engineering

• Increased Developer Productivity: By automating tasks and providing self-service options, developers can focus on building features faster.

• Improved Application Quality: Standardized tools and processes can lead to more consistent and reliable applications.

• Faster Time to Market: Streamlined development and deployment processes accelerate the delivery of new features.

• Enhanced Security and Compliance: Built-in security and compliance measures can be enforced through the platform.

• Cost Optimization: Efficient resource utilization and automation can help reduce costs.

Jobs for Platform Engineer

A sample job description for a platform engineer job.

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Platform Engineer to design, develop, and maintain our platform infrastructure. You will work closely with development, operations, and security teams to ensure our platform is reliable, scalable, and efficient.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, build, and maintain scalable and reliable platform infrastructure.

• Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation.

• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines to automate application deployment and scaling.

• Collaborate with development teams to improve developer productivity and streamline workflows.

• Monitor and optimize platform performance, ensuring high availability and reliability.

• Implement and enforce security best practices across the platform.

• Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation for platform infrastructure and processes.

• Troubleshoot and resolve platform-related issues in a timely manner.

• Stay current with industry trends and best practices, and advocate for continuous improvement.

Payscale

• Based on Payscale.com the average salary for platform engineers ranges between $119,000 and $168,000 (PayScale)​.

• Salary.com states that the average base salary for a Senior Platform Engineer is approximately $132,433 per year

India

• Entry-Level: ₹600,000 — ₹1,200,000 per year

• Mid-Level: ₹1,200,000 — ₹2,000,000 per year

• Senior-Level: ₹2,000,000 — ₹3,500,000+ per year

United States

• Entry-Level (0–2 years of experience): $80,000 — $100,000 per year

• Mid-Level (3–5 years of experience): $100,000 — $130,000 per year

• Senior-Level (6+ years of experience): $130,000 — $160,000+ per year

Although these are rough estimates, they depend mostly upon a person's skill set and the experience they gain during the tenure they worked.

Final Thoughts

Platform engineering builds tools and infrastructure to streamline development. This enriches the overall development experience as it minimises the overall cumbersome task that is repetitive in nature.

• Key components include self-service environments, automation, developer tools, and collaboration.
• Benefits include increased developer productivity, improved application quality, faster time to market, and cost optimization.
• Platform engineers design, build, and maintain the platform infrastructure.
• The average salary for platform engineers in the US ranges from $80,000 to $160,000+ per year.

If you think your future goals match with a platform engineer, you could opt for the same and help an organization achieve a good platform.

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About The Author

Apoorv Tomar is a software developer and blogs at **Mindroast. You can connect on social networks. Subscribe to the **newsletter for the latest curated content.