Empowering Developers with Platform Engineering
24 March 2024
This document is work in progress
Introduction
"Platform Engineering" has recently surfaced as a hot topic. It represents an evolution / amalgamation of various software development and infrastructure practises. Its core aim is to accelerate the delivery of applications and the pace at which they generate business value.
Writing this document serves as a tool for deepening my understanding of this evolving domain and its recent advancements. Whilst I have considerable experience in many of the underlying topics discussed - the main goal for writing this is to enhance my knowledge and ability to articulate clearly on the subject.
If the document is useful to others that's great - but the primary audience remains myself. Feedback welcome / appreciated.
Evolving
As with most new software technology advancements, this topic is subject to change. There exist various definitions, a range of strategies, and it can provoke numerous questions. Additionally, new product and service releases are continuous.
Gartner predicts that by 2026, 80% of large software engineering organizations will have established platform engineering teams. Interestingly, some critics argue that Platform Engineering presents few new ideas, contending it's merely a rebranding of concepts that have been around for some time, with good marketing making it appear cool. These divergent perspectives are something to keep in mind as we dig a bit deeper into understanding what it is all about.
Let's begin by exploring: Why do we need this?