So you want to be a platform engineer? Maybe you are one already! And just haven’t realized it. Platform engineering is at the center of many application development conversations today, but what, exactly, are we talking about? Is platform engineering just a job title? Is it a technology? A management technique? Merely yet another trending industry vibe?
While some in the know describe it as the natural evolution (and perhaps co-mingling) of infrastructure and DevOps roles, others see it as a modernized rebranding of integrated application development – or something even more transformative. At the recent New York City PlatformCon conference, definitions and philosophies were debated among the experienced practitioners and leaders showcased at the event. They came at the question from a variety of interesting angles.
The Source of the Confusion
The reason that the platform engineering debate burns so brightly and a firm definition remains elusive is because the term “platform engineering” is used in multiple, often conflicting, ways:
- As a Job Title: “Platform Engineer” can be a defined role within an IT team, a person building and maintaining internal developer platforms and tools.
- As a Technology: “Platform engineering” also refers to the suite of tools, infrastructure, and automation systems that support software delivery.
- As a Trend: In some organizations, platform engineering is more of a mindset or movement, representing the aspiration toward greater developer autonomy and operational efficiency.
- As a Technique or Approach: Some present it, though, as a set of best practices or approaches for streamlining, automating, and improving the underlying platform that enables software teams to deliver business value.
This ambiguity is understandable. The field has evolved rapidly while DevOps, site reliability engineering (SRE), and cloud-native continue to advance themselves, blurring boundaries and sowing confusion about job responsibilities and their required skills.
All the Definitions the Market will Bear
Platform engineering is: an internal platform-as-product approach. A dominant view, especially in larger organizations, is that platform engineering teams build and maintain an internal platform consumed by application developers. This platform abstracts complex infrastructure and integrates services (CI/CD pipelines, authentication, monitoring, etc.) as standardized APIs or self-service tools. The platform is treated as a product: it is versioned, documented, actively measured, and improved by its dedicated team.
Kelsey Hightower, a prominent voice in cloud infrastructure and automation, used his PlatformCon keynote address to emphasize the trajectory from hands-on system administration to platform engineering. Today’s platform engineers, he said, must thrive on evolving tools and continuous change and contribute to shared projects, which is inherent to the “platform as a product” mindset. He argued that successful platform engineers have a broad set of skills, drawing from scripting, automation, system design, and software development, and that ultimately, the role is about making infrastructure easier and safer to use, whether by enforcing policies, designing APIs, or automating deployment workflows.
Hightower’s insights resonate with the product-oriented view—platform engineering isn’t just infrastructure, but a set of solutions crafted for internal customers (developers), requiring both technical expertise and empathy.
Platform engineering is: a job title and career path. Many job descriptions for platform engineers overlap significantly with those for DevOps or SREs: proficient in cloud, automation (Terraform, Kubernetes), observability, and security. Yet platform engineering often emphasizes software engineering skills over pure operations, aiming for reusable internal services rather than one-off automation scripts.
Platform engineering is: a technology stack. Or maybe a category of tooling. Some organizations equate platform engineering with specific technologies—Kubernetes, service meshes, developer portals, or abstraction layers. This tool-centric view risks limiting the scope of platform engineering to mere “plumbing” work.
Kaspar von Grünberg, CEO of Humanitec, explained at PlatformCon how, as organizations move to integrate AI-centric tools like Multi Context Protocol (MCP), well-designed APIs become essential. These interfaces enable automation and reduce friction between developers, platform engineers, and intelligent tools. Complex systems must be designed to be reliable and predictable, von Grünberg said, particularly as modern technology is layered on top of legacy systems.
Platform engineering is: a cultural or organizational shift. In progressive (or “vision-oriented”) teams, platform engineering is championed as a culture shift as developers are empowered by paved paths, with platforms designed to minimize cognitive load and encourage experimentation. The goal is not just efficiency but also a better developer experience that leads to developer retention.
How Should We Consider Platform Engineering?
Given all this adjacent and overlapping interpretations, a clear and practical definition of platform engineering emerges:
Platform engineering is a discipline focused on building and maintaining internal platforms—composable sets of tools, APIs, and processes—that enable software developers to deliver value efficiently, securely, and with minimal friction. It blends software engineering, automation, and a strong product mindset, treating the platform as a service for internal customers.
This definition accommodates the various roles, techniques, and technologies involved, while stressing the purpose: to empower development teams to do their best work by removing barriers, reducing complexity, and fostering collaboration.
A Strategic Discipline Ready to Define the Road Ahead
The confusion surrounding platform engineering reflects a healthy evolution in how organizations approach their internal technology. As Hightower and von Grünberg both suggested, success in platform engineering requires more than the right tools or titles. It demands clarity of purpose, increased rigor in the API, a strong service orientation, and a commitment to continuous learning. Ultimately, platform engineering is not just a job—or a vibe—but a strategic discipline above and beyond DevOps, a discipline in which you can help transform how organizations build and deliver value in the age of automation and AI.