Why Platform Engineering Is the DevOps You Actually Wanted!
- Shannon
- May 31
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 1
I think we can all agree, DevOps has been the north star for engineering teams trying to ship software faster, safer, and more reliably ever since it became the "cool" or "hip" thing to do. From 2009 on into now, everyone wants DevOps and seemingly only DevOps can cure all ails.
In the last handful of years, a new term gained traction: Platform Engineering. Some call it “DevOps 2.0” (I'm one of those people, just because it's catchy). Others argue it’s just a specialized evolution. So what’s the difference and why does it matter? I have so many customers who get stuck and/or confused when I say "Platform Engineering", so I thought I'd try and break it down a bit from the lens of Shannon in hopes of demystifying these terms a bit.
First, What is DevOps (Really and Truly)?
DevOps was born as a cultural and collaborative movement to break down the silos between development and operations. The goal? Deliver better software, faster.
According to Gene Kim and the team behind The Phoenix Project and The DevOps Handbook, DevOps is all about:
Shared responsibility for delivery
Continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD)
Infrastructure as code
Monitoring and feedback loops
Automation, everywhere
In practice, this meant developers started owning more of the operational lifecycle—writing infrastructure code, managing pipelines, and even being on-call.
But as cloud-native complexity exploded, this model started to hit limits.
Enter Platform Engineering
Platform Engineering responds to the scale and sprawl of modern DevOps. Instead of expecting every developer to be an AWS guru, a Kubernetes wrangler, and security champion, platform engineering says:
Let’s build a paved path—a self-service platform that enables developers to deliver software quickly without having to manage all the complexity underneath.
Gartner defines platform engineering as “the discipline of building and operating self-service internal platforms that enable software delivery and lifecycle management.” (Gartner, 2022)
This shift doesn’t negate DevOps—it extends it!
DevOps vs. Platform Engineering: A Side-by-Side
Concept | DevOps | Platform Engineering |
Origin | Cultural movement (2009+) | Engineering discipline (2020s rise) |
Focus | Collaboration, CI/CD, automation | Developer experience, scalability, standardization |
Team | Cross-functional dev and ops | Dedicated platform engineering team |
Goal | Ship software faster and reliably | Abstract complexity, improve DevEx |
Deliverables | Pipelines, monitoring, infrastructure | Internal developer platform (IDP), golden paths |
Tooling | Jenkins, Terraform, Prometheus, Docker | Backstage, Crossplane, GitOps, Kubernetes |
Maturity Level | Organizational shift | Structured capability layer |
The TLDR: DevOps democratized infrastructure. Platform Engineering productizes it.
Why Now?
There are a few reasons why Platform Engineering is booming:
Developer Overload - Developers are drowning in YAML, cloud permissions, observability tooling, and IaC complexity. Burnout is real. Platform Engineering aims to return focus to writing features, not deciphering Helm charts.
Cloud-native Complexity - Microservices, Kubernetes, service meshes, zero trust...the modern stack is not simple. Platform teams create curated abstractions so dev teams don’t need to know everything.
Internal Platforms Work - Companies like Spotify (Backstage), Netflix, and Amazon have long invested in internal platforms. The rest of the industry is catching up.
Toolchain Fatigue - There’s a new tool every month. Platform teams help consolidate, standardize, and support tooling that scales. Gone are the days of needing 18 tools to build your environment and develop new features!
Platform Engineering Is Not a Replacement for DevOps
Let’s be clear: Platform Engineering is not the death of DevOps. Think of Platform Engineering as being what happens when DevOps grows up.
Platform engineers don’t "do DevOps for dev teams." Instead, they:
Build interfaces and APIs for infrastructure
Provide guardrails, not gates
Focus on developer self-service
Use DevOps principles to enable teams, not burden them
In fact, the best platform teams see themselves as product teams, with internal developers as their customers.
Real-World Analogy: Roads vs. Cars
If DevOps is like learning to drive—you get control, autonomy, and responsibility—then Platform Engineering is like building the highways, road signs, GPS, and pit stops so drivers don’t crash or get lost.
You still need drivers (developers) and mechanics (SREs), but platform engineers make the journey smoother, safer, and faster.
What This Means for You
If you're a DevOps engineer: your skills are more relevant than ever. But you may start specializing—building reusable modules, working on platform APIs, or even shifting toward platform product management.
If you're an engineering leader: investing in platform engineering can help reduce cognitive load, improve developer velocity, and enforce security and compliance—without slowing teams down.
If you're just learning about this shift: you're not alone. The tech industry is still defining this space. But one thing is clear: better platforms mean better software.
Closing Thoughts
DevOps brought us together. Platform Engineering helps us scale. Whether you’re a startup or an enterprise, the path forward isn’t “DevOps vs. Platform Engineering”—it’s about knowing when and how to apply both. Platform teams are the enablers of DevOps at scale. They build the runways so your teams can fly.
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