As tech buzzwords go, “platform engineering” has definitely gained momentum. I see it everywhere - in articles, conference talks, and even casual conversations among tech professionals. Too often, though, this concept of platform engineering comes bundled with the tagline “DevOps is dead” or “Platform engineering replaces DevOps.”

This makes me cringe a little inside. Every time I hear this, it reinforces my conviction that folks making such statements fundamentally misunderstand the core of what DevOps represents. The prevalence of this misunderstanding worries me. It signals a misdirection of priorities that could negatively impact the software development landscape.

My DevOps Journey

I’ve been immersed in the world of DevOps for a significant portion of my career. My perspective is shaped by years of battling silos, building bridges between development and operations teams, and witnessing the transformative power of collaboration and automation.

DevOps has never been about specific tools or technologies. It’s a philosophy, a mindset shift towards creating a more interconnected and efficient software delivery method. It emphasizes breaking down barriers, streamlining workflows, and promoting a sense of shared ownership between those who build the software and those who keep it running.

The Rise of Platform Engineering

Platform engineering is a natural evolution within the DevOps movement. It acknowledges the fact that in modern software development, complexity is an ever-present foe. Teams need ways to tame that complexity, manage cloud infrastructure, and navigate a tangled web of services and dependencies. And, if I’m being honest, I’ve been building platforms all along.

Platform engineering aims to build internal platforms that offer well-defined, self-serviceable abstractions. Engineers can consume these services without needing to dive into the nitty-gritty details of underlying architecture or configuration. In turn, this frees them up to focus on what they excel at - delivering business value through code.

Where’s the Misunderstanding?

The fallacy lies in viewing platform engineering as the death knell of DevOps. Instead, platform engineering is an enabler of better DevOps practices. Here’s the way I see it:

  • DevOps is a Culture: It’s about how teams interact, communicate, and take shared responsibility for the software they deliver. Platform engineering doesn’t change that fundamental premise.
  • Platform Engineering is a Toolset: A powerful toolset indeed, but one ultimately geared towards making the lives of engineers and operations folks easier, allowing them to collaborate better in service of a shared goal.
  • Focus on Continuous Delivery: A well-designed internal platform accelerates CI/CD, easing the pain of deployment and allowing teams to iterate faster. This is a core aim of DevOps taken to the next level.

Let’s Not Lose Sight of the Big Picture

Getting caught up in a war of terminology is distracting and counterproductive. Let’s not declare DevOps dead just because we have a shiny new way to package infrastructure and services for our developers.  Instead, let’s celebrate the emergence of platform engineering as a powerful way to scale and strengthen the core principles that DevOps embodies.

It’s crucial to remember that software development is about solving problems and delivering value.  Whether we call it DevOps, platform engineering, or something else altogether in the future, what matters is having a relentless focus on collaboration, a constant drive to automate, and a deep commitment to continuous improvement.