The text discusses the advantages and challenges of using cloud-based CI/CD pipelines, particularly focusing on the benefits of automation for remote development teams and the associated concerns of credential management. It highlights how hosted CI/CD services like CircleCI can enhance productivity by allowing developers to concentrate on product improvement rather than infrastructure management. However, it underscores the critical importance of securely managing credentials, such as API keys and passwords, to prevent data breaches. The text provides a tutorial on best practices for managing static credentials in CircleCI, including the use of CircleCI contexts and the rotation of secrets through the CircleCI CLI or API. It also introduces the concept of using OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication tokens for enhanced security, noting that while OIDC adoption is still growing, it provides a more secure alternative to long-lived credentials. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of improved credential management in increasing security and productivity for platform engineers, encouraging the use of centralized secure stores like HashiCorp Vault for managing static credentials.