Stage 7 · Master
Platform Engineering & Developer Experience
Build internal developer platforms that accelerate teams. Learn golden paths, self-service APIs, policy as code, and DX metrics from organizations like Spotify, Netflix, and Shopify.
6 modules36 lessons4.6h of reading36/36 live today
Prerequisite
Kubernetes, CI/CD, Observability, and SRE fundamentals.
What this course leaves you with
- Design internal developer platforms as products
- Model golden paths, self-service APIs, and platform policies
- Measure developer experience as an engineering system
Platform EngineeringDeveloper ExperienceInternal ToolsKubernetesGo
Why this stage matters — The platform is designed — now add Python and AI leverage.
Progress
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01
6 lessons
Platform Engineering Fundamentals
Understand what platform engineering is, how it differs from DevOps/SRE, and the product mindset required to build platforms developers love.
- 01What Is Platform Engineering?Define platform engineering, trace its evolution from sysadmin to DevOps to platform teams, and understand the product mindset shift.8 min
- 02Platform vs DevOps vs SREClarify the distinctions and overlaps between platform engineering, DevOps culture, and Site Reliability Engineering.7 min
- 03Cognitive Load & Golden PathsLearn how platforms reduce cognitive load through golden paths — paved roads that make the right way the easy way.8 min
- 04Platform as a ProductAdopt product management practices: user research, roadmaps, SLIs for platform health, and developer NPS.8 min
- 05Team Topologies for PlatformsApply Team Topologies: platform team as enabler, stream-aligned teams as customers, enabling teams for specialized capabilities.7 min
- 06Platform Maturity ModelAssess your platform maturity from Level 0 (chaos) to Level 4 (intelligent) and plan incremental improvements.7 min
02
6 lessons
Developer Portal & Software Catalog
Build a unified developer portal with software catalog, scaffolder, tech docs, and plugin ecosystem using Backstage or custom solutions.
- 01Why a Developer Portal?Solve fragmentation: single pane of glass for services, ownership, docs, deployments, and incidents.6 min
- 02Software Catalog DesignModel entities (services, APIs, resources, systems), relationships, and metadata. Define ownership, lifecycle, and dependencies.8 min
- 03Backstage Architecture Deep DiveUnderstand Backstage core: app, plugins, backend, database, auth, and permission framework. Self-host vs managed.8 min
- 04Scaffolder: Golden Path TemplatesCreate parameterized templates that generate repos with CI/CD, observability, security policies, and docs pre-configured.9 min
- 05TechDocs: Documentation as CodeIntegrate MkDocs, auto-generate API docs from OpenAPI, version docs with code, and surface in the portal.7 min
- 06Portal Plugins & ExtensionsExtend with plugins for Kubernetes, ArgoCD, Grafana, PagerDuty, GitHub, Jira. Build custom plugins for org-specific needs.7 min
03
6 lessons
Self-Service Platform API & CLI
Design and build a platform API with controllers, provisioners, and a developer-facing CLI that hides Kubernetes complexity.
- 01Platform API Design PrinciplesIntent-driven APIs over infrastructure APIs. Async operations, idempotency, versioning, and error handling for great DX.8 min
- 02Kubernetes Controllers for PlatformBuild controllers with controller-runtime: reconcile loops, finalizers, status conditions, and webhook validation.9 min
- 03GitOps Bridge: ArgoCD & Flux IntegrationUse ApplicationSet, Kustomize, Helm. Platform API creates Applications; GitOps engine syncs. Drift detection and auto-heal.8 min
- 04Provisioning Infrastructure with CrossplaneCompositions, XRDs, Claims. Provision cloud resources (RDS, Redis, S3, VPC) through Kubernetes API. Composition functions for logic.9 min
- 05Platform CLI Design (Cobra/Go)Build a developer CLI: command structure, output formats, shell completion, auth, config profiles, and plugin architecture.8 min
- 06Ephemeral Preview EnvironmentsPR-based environments with TTL, namespace isolation, shared dependencies, and cost control. Integrate with GitHub Checks.8 min
04
6 lessons
Policy as Code & Security Guardrails
Enforce standards at scaffold time, CI time, and admission time. OPA/Rego, Kyverno, admission controllers, and supply chain security.
- 01Policy as Code FundamentalsWhy policy as code: versionable, testable, auditable. OPA vs Kyverno. Decision points: scaffold, CI, admission, runtime.7 min
- 02OPA/Rego for Kubernetes AdmissionWrite Rego policies for resource limits, labels, image registries, privilege escalation. Test with OPA test framework.9 min
- 03Kyverno: Native Kubernetes PoliciesValidate, mutate, generate. ClusterPolicy vs Policy. Verify images with cosign. Auto-generate NetworkPolicies, PodDisruptionBudgets.8 min
- 04Supply Chain Security: SLSA & SigstoreSLSA levels, provenance, cosign signing, Rekor transparency log. Verify in admission controller. SBOM generation with Syft.8 min
- 05Secrets Management in the PlatformExternal Secrets Operator, Vault, SealedSecrets. Platform-managed secret rotation. Developer UX: no secrets in git, ever.8 min
- 06Compliance & Audit AutomationContinuous compliance: policy reports, drift detection, evidence collection for SOC2/PCI. Dashboard for auditors.7 min
05
6 lessons
Observability & Developer Experience Metrics
Instrument the platform itself. Measure DX with DORA, SPACE, and custom metrics. Build feedback loops that drive platform improvements.
- 01Platform SLIs and SLOsDefine platform SLIs: API latency, scaffold-to-deploy time, environment provisioning time, CI queue time. Error budgets for platform.8 min
- 02DORA & SPACE Metrics for Platform TeamsMeasure lead time, deployment frequency, change failure rate, MTTR. SPACE: Satisfaction, Performance, Activity, Communication, Efficiency.8 min
- 03DX Surveys & Feedback LoopsQuarterly developer NPS, in-app feedback widgets, friction logs. Close the loop: publish results, prioritize, ship improvements.7 min
- 04Platform Observability StackGrafana, Tempo, Loki, Mimir/Pyroscope. Distributed traces for platform API. Correlate scaffold → deploy → incident.8 min
- 05Cost Visibility & OptimizationShowback/chargeback per team. Kubecost, OpenCost. Right-sizing recommendations. Auto-scaling policies. Budget alerts in portal.7 min
- 06Incident Response for Platform TeamsPlatform incidents affect all teams. Runbooks, war rooms, status pages, postmortem template. Blameless culture. Platform on-call rotation.7 min
06
6 lessons
Advanced Topics & Future of Platform Engineering
Multi-cluster, multi-cloud, AI-augmented platforms, platform engineering at scale, and career growth for platform engineers.
- 01Multi-Cluster & FederationCluster API, Karmada, Fleet. Workload placement, failover, geographic distribution. Shared control plane vs replicated.8 min
- 02Multi-Cloud Platform StrategyAbstraction layers: Crossplane, Terraform, Cluster API. Avoid vendor lock-in. Consistent APIs across AWS, Azure, GCP.8 min
- 03AI-Augmented Developer PlatformCopilot for platform: scaffold from natural language, auto-fix policy violations, predict capacity, anomaly detection in DX metrics.8 min
- 04Platform Engineering at Scale1000+ developers, 10000+ services. Platform team structure: platform PM, UX, reliability, security, data. Inner source model.8 min
- 05Migrating Legacy to PlatformStrangler fig pattern. Brownfield adoption: wrap existing CI/CD, incremental migration. Win quick wins, build trust.7 min
- 06Career Growth: Platform EngineerIC track vs management. Staff/Principal platform engineer skills. Speaking, writing, open source. PlatformCon, community.6 min