Why you should care about platform engineering

Platform engineering has emerged as a significant trend within the DevOps landscape, focusing on creating internal developer platforms that reduce cognitive load and empower developers to efficiently own and operate their services without needing to become DevOps experts. Unlike traditional DevOps or SRE teams that often manage operational tasks, platform engineering provides a user-friendly abstraction over complex tools and processes, enabling developers to focus more on application development rather than operational minutiae. This approach utilizes "golden paths," which are standardized pipelines that streamline code deployment and reduce repetitive operational toil, enhancing productivity and reducing error-prone manual work. Platforms are treated as internal products, continuously refined based on developer feedback and metrics like DORA, to ensure they meet the evolving needs of engineering teams. Unleash, as an open-source API-first tool, can seamlessly integrate into these platforms, aiding in feature toggling during deployments. While smaller organizations might wait until reaching a certain size to invest in platform engineering, established companies with existing DevOps cultures can benefit from productizing their internal services to alleviate developer pain points and enhance operational efficiency.