AWS Re:Invent Talks — Update 9 — Platform Engineering

With the rapid evolution of cloud technologies, Platform Engineering is key for companies to stay competitive. It simplifies adapting to new tech, streamlines development, and fosters innovation. This way, companies can launch products faster, scale easily, and stay reliable in a fast-paced market.

This highlights the critical necessity of understanding platform engineering in today’s tech landscape. Therefore here I’ve compiled a summary of Re:Invent Tech Talks on Platform Engineering for you to review:

🌟Embracing platform engineering’s potential (DOP213) Here

Dave Williams, CTO of Massdriver, shared his transition from product engineering to tackling the complexities of DevOps at AWS re:Invent 2023, introducing “golden blocks” as a solution to reduce cognitive overhead and streamline operations. These blocks signifying small blocks/units of Infrastructure as Code (IAC) with built-in security and compliance, aim to simplify cloud infrastructure management.

He highlighted approach that included an open-source framework for easy-to-use JSON schemas, automated artifact creation for interoperability, and catalogs for discovering compliant infrastructure components. They’ve developed efficient provisioning systems and inventory management to enhance insight, monitoring, and cost management.

Most important — holistic platform requires a diverse skill set, dedicated resources, and a product mindset, emphasizing the need for iterative development and adaptability in platform engineering.

🌟 Platform engineering with Amazon EKS (CON311) Here

During the session on platform engineering with Amazon EKS, Kevin Coleman and Roland Barcia, alongside customer speaker Ahmed Bebars from the New York Times, shared insights into building and optimizing internal platforms using Amazon EKS.

They discussed the foundational role of platform engineering in facilitating efficient, scalable cloud adoption and software delivery, highlighted through customer examples such as Salesforce and a scientific research platform supporting the Year of Open Source initiative. Key takeaways included the importance of treating the platform as a product designed around developer needs, the benefits of abstraction for governance and scalability, and the strategic choices between multi-tenant and single-tenant clusters.

Bebars emphasized the iterative nature of platform engineering, showcasing the New York Times’ approach to simplifying infrastructure management and enhancing developer experiences through Infrastructure as Code and a focus on continuous improvement and engagement with users.

🚀 Break the complexity with platform engineering (DOP102) Here

Some experiential insights shared by speaker:

“Platform engineering helps break through the complexity barrier and unlock a great developer experience.”

Developer Experience Platform Tips:

Reduce the need to remember: By centralizing information and tools, Atlassian’s Compass reduces cognitive load and improves efficiency.
Communicate standards easily: Utilizing scorecards to track compliance with standards simplifies governance and reduces the need for meetings.
Simplify compliance and setup: Templates in Compass automate infrastructure provisioning and setup, aligning with company standards and reducing manual tasks.