Platform engineering shifts infrastructure management from manual ticket processing to self-service models. According to the 2025 DORA report, 90% of organizations utilize at least one internal platform, with 76% establishing dedicated teams for this purpose. Gartner forecasts that 80% of software development companies will have platform teams by 2026.
A platform is defined as a set of established paths that allow developers to independently perform tasks like deploying services or managing databases. Effective platform teams focus on building automated workflows rather than handling individual requests. Success is measured by the number of users adopting these paths rather than the total volume of infrastructure built.
The provided checklist for platform engineers includes ten key tasks, such as implementing Kubernetes deployment strategies, managing RBAC across multiple teams, and ensuring automated CI/CD pipelines. Other requirements involve infrastructure-as-code deployment, network isolation via policies, and implementing secret management systems like Vault or KMS.
The checklist also emphasizes advanced skills like developing custom Kubernetes operators using CRDs and reconcile logic. It highlights the importance of post-mortem analysis for incidents, moving beyond simple symptom relief to identifying root causes. The evaluation scale ranges from zero to two points based on personal experience in executing these tasks from start to finish.
