Site reliability engineering (SRE) teams and platform engineering teams have comparable goals and approaches, such as maximising automation and lowering toil. They do, however, have different priorities and employ slightly different instruments to attain them.

What exactly are SREs? What exactly are platform engineers? What similarities and differences exist between each role? This post will provide answers to all of your questions.

SREs and Platform Engineers' Responsibilities

Site reliability engineers' primary role is to ensure that IT systems are dependable, which means that they meet performance criteria. Working with developers and IT operations teams to maximise the stability of applications as they go down the software delivery pipeline is part of their job.

Platform engineers, on the other hand, concentrate on controlling and optimising the software delivery process. Consider this role to be one that puts DevOps ideas into reality by figuring out how to achieve continuous delivery, continuous improvement, and other DevOps initiatives.

As a result, both SREs and platform engineers play a role in overseeing the software delivery process and determining how to make it as smooth and efficient as feasible. They also share a common foe: labour, in the sense that both groups strive to eliminate laborious, wasteful operations by automating as much as possible. SREs, for example, use technologies to automate complex incident response processes, whereas platform engineers may use approaches such as GitOps to automate various portions of software delivery.

SRE and Platform Engineering Distinctions

SRE and platform engineering, on the other hand, are distinct roles. The main distinctions are as follows:

Goals: SREs' primary responsibility is to maximise dependability, which is distinct from enhancing the speed and efficiency of software delivery operations. Even if your software distribution chain is manual and slow, you may theoretically have a highly dependable system.

Platform engineers' primary focus is on software delivery operations. SREs are concerned about software delivery as well, because the manner applications are built affects reliability and problem resolution. However, SREs also have numerous other responsibilities, such as incident response and infrastructure management, that go beyond the realm of software delivery.

SREs rely on technologies to assist them identify and resolve various types of reliability issues. Platform engineers, on the other hand, use tools such as source code managers and continuous integration (CI) servers to help automate software delivery.

As a result, while SREs and platform engineers may utilise comparable approaches and have similar abilities, their day-to-day operations are fundamentally different.

Should You Work as an SRE or Platform Engineer?

Given the overlap in abilities between SRE and platform engineering, certain engineers are well-suited to either profession. But which is better in terms of a career?

Salary-wise, there isn't much of a difference. According to Glassdoor, the average income for platform engineers is around £88,200, compared to £97,500 for SREs. SREs may earn a little more (and it's worth mentioning that SRE salaries can vary greatly), but the pay gap isn't as large as the one between, instance, IT operations engineers (who earn a meagre £59,000, according to Glassdoor) and SREs.

In terms of demand, the roles are also comparable. Unlike software engineering or even DevOps engineering, SRE and platform engineering are roles that have only recently gained popularity. SRE has been around for a while—it began at Google in the early 2000s—but it wasn't until recently that most firms began looking for SREs for their teams. Similarly, platform engineering did not become a thing until the introduction of microservices and cloud-native things compelled businesses to invest more engineering resources to managing their increasingly complicated software delivery processes.

This means that, for the time being, it is simple to get positions in SRE and platform engineering if you have the necessary abilities. Many businesses are keen to fill both sorts of positions.

Choosing the correct career for you, then, is primarily determined by your tastes and working style. A platform engineer's life is likely to be more predictable than an SRE's because platform engineers do not have to take the lead in resolving problems when anything goes wrong at 2:00 a.m. SREs, on the other hand, have a more varied set of duties, which can make the work more interesting—especially if software delivery platforms like Git or Jenkins don't get you out of bed in the morning.

Conclusion

Platform engineers and SREs are critical in automating complicated processes and eliminating manual labour. They approach these difficulties, however, from different perspectives and with distinct techniques. The best role for you is determined by what you enjoy doing the most.

A DevOps methodology is the greatest way to maximise the benefits of cloud computing while minimising expenditures. We explain why in this blog article.

The combination of the cloud and DevOps speeds up software delivery.

According to a survey by IT analyst firm Freeform Dynamics, employing cloud or DevOps in isolation speeds up software delivery by slightly more than 50%. Using them together, however, results in an 81 percent acceleration.

According to the report's authors, cloud changes the game for software delivery and operations, but DevOps is required to reap the full benefits:

"...when done correctly, cloud may remove a lot of the hurdles and friction...

To fully reap the benefits of the cloud, you must also have rapid and iterative software development and delivery procedures, most notably DevOps, backed up by a commitment to cloud-based tools and services."

When applications are moved to the cloud, it provides an excellent chance to modernise the hosting platform in order to take use of new cloud services. DevOps approaches, for example, can be utilised to reduce the complexity and toil involved with maintenance by automating common processes. Furthermore, on-demand scaling can simplify software delivery and deployment while drastically lowering the costly over-provisioning that is frequent in on-premise setups. These enhancements, when combined, free up more time and energy for innovation and value-added work that improves customer satisfaction.

In summary, developers spend more time developing, and operations employees may work strategically instead of dealing with heavy unexpected activity, also known as 'firefighting.' Many organisations struggle to meet their strategic objectives because their staff are too preoccupied with putting out fires. A DevOps strategy to cloud migration, on the other hand, allows you to put out many of these fires once and for all.

The combination of the cloud with DevOps improves operational efficiency.

Implementing DevOps principles alongside cloud adoption provides a more seamless and focused path to operational maturity. This is especially critical for companies that have just transitioned from start-up to scale-up.

Adopting proven best practises can help you accelerate success in this area. AWS and Azure's Well-Architected Frameworks provide an excellent starting point. The five Well-Architected pillars – Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Cost-Optimization, and Performance Efficiency – provide a wealth of expert advice on how to construct and operate your cloud successfully. Conducting a Well-Architected Review can assist influence DevOps-led process decisions and goals. This allows you to redesign systems in a focused and systematic manner, 'baking in' the operability that will support and accommodate future development.

The combination of cloud and DevOps reduces total cost of ownership.

Cloud cost optimization is becoming a primary goal for CTOs as cloud adoption continues to climb. DevOps can also help with this.

As previously stated, traditional on-premise server infrastructures are typically over-provisioned in order to meet peak demand. Depending on your industry, traffic may rise once a year (for example, on Black Friday) or more regularly (e.g. weekend grocery shopping). It may also surge abruptly at other times due to unforeseen causes beyond your control.

The key is that you pay for this peak capacity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even if you turn off servers during off-peak hours to save energy, you still have to pay for rack space, network provisioning, and software licences.

DevOps can turn this around by fully utilising the quick elasticity provided by cloud computing. By automating essential components of provisioning, application deployment, and orchestration, you can utilise (and pay for) only the capacity you require, when you require it. This saves waste and lowers overall cost of ownership.

What is the best way to integrate cloud and DevOps?

DevOps principles can be incorporated from the start when developing a cloud-native application.

Existing apps, on the other hand, can be adapted to benefit from DevOps methods of operation.

This can occur during a cloud movement or following a lift and shift. It entails re-platforming, modifying, or reworking the programme. It is about upgrading and modernising the infrastructure without requiring major recoding or redesign. For many organisations, this is the simplest and quickest way to increase targeted performance in a new cloud environment.

Businesses that implement DevOps alongside cloud adoption, in our view, do more than just save money and drive innovation. They also have happier and more motivated employees. People feel more fulfilled and energised as a result of their work. This, in turn, fosters a readiness to adjust and grow, resulting in continuous progress and a competitive advantage.

Over the last few years, software development and digital usage have undergone a sea change, transforming old company structures. Since its inception, the DevOps technique has grown significantly and continues to do so, embracing new tools and technologies in response to evolving consumer expectations. Enterprises require DevOps to remain relevant in today's brutally competitive business landscape.

Because DevOps is a concept that describes a new style of engineering that integrates tools, processes, and people, it naturally evolves and adapts as technology progresses. As a result, DevOps enables innovation-driven businesses to thrive in ever-more complicated contexts. Additionally, DevOps gained widespread popularity as a result of the tremendous digital revolution enabled by the global health epidemic. Organizations of all sizes and industries are now adopting the technique and prioritising the hire of DevOps engineers.

As an increasing number of businesses adopt DevOps strategies, the demand for qualified software engineers continues to grow. Indeed, throughout the last few years, industry-led market research have regularly concluded the same thing: DevOps engineer is the most in-demand IT profession at digitally enabled businesses. One of the most significant issues organisations face today as they embark on their DevOps journeys is locating and attracting talented talent.

What is a DevOps Engineer, exactly?

The position of DevOps engineer has grown in prominence dramatically in recent years, driven by both demand and talent supply. The competition for outstanding candidates in the DevOps field is severe, which allows engineers to demand a higher salary when adding DevOps to their title. Additionally, the establishment of DevOps professional associations demonstrates the critical nature of DevOps professions.

As is the case with many other positions in the technology industry, the DevOps engineer title is open to interpretation, and its meaning, required abilities, and primary tasks will almost certainly vary from business to company. The exact nature of the DevOps engineer function will vary according to the organization's goals, stage of growth, industry, and technological advancements. Additionally, emerging technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning create a need for new skill sets, which contributes to the evolution of DevOps positions.

Recent industry studies indicate that modern DevOps teams are multidisciplinary in nature, with engineers knowledgeable in IT operations, infrastructure, security, application development and design, and architecture ranking among the top five DevOps functional capabilities. Additionally, new acronyms – such as DevSecOps, GitOps, AIOps, FinOps, NoOps, or ModelOps – are beginning to enter the IT lexicon, demonstrating the continued need for new skill sets and the role of the DevOps engineer's inevitable evolution.

Nonetheless, employment names in the IT industry are frequently misleading. The principle of shared accountability, which implies independent teams, is at the heart of the DevOps culture. Additionally, it is critical for every engineer to recognise that being a DevOps engineer entails behaving in ways that go beyond the typical activities associated with the position. Similarly, modern technology firms that leverage DevOps should encourage role evolution by allowing team members with the title DevOps engineer to create job titles that reflect their responsibilities.

As new technologies emerge, DevOps roles and responsibilities continue to evolve.

Roles and Responsibilities of a DevOps Engineer

Engineers' roles and responsibilities within the DevOps realm have evolved over time as the revolutionary method to software engineering has grown in popularity. Today's growing usage of microservices, cloud, and hybrid computing in response to consumer demand for quicker, more reliable applications compels enterprises to abandon traditional IT operating methods and embrace DevOps.

As the world becomes more reliant on new technologies, it would be incorrect to assume that an efficient DevOps strategy requires collaboration between development and operations teams. Indeed, today's IT experts are required to have a working knowledge of automation, cloud architecture, and software engineering. As such, the responsibilities and function of a DevOps engineer become critical in driving the necessary changes for enterprises to scale DevOps and supporting critical value streams in order to accomplish desired business goals. However, as the primary duties and responsibilities of a DevOps engineer grow, will the title retain its relevance and popularity?