Platform Engineering Learning Path
Design and build Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) that accelerate engineering teams. This is a senior track: plan ~12–16 weeks if the prerequisites are fresh, longer if you're building them here.
By the end you'll be able to: design a self-service platform on Kubernetes, codify golden paths with IaC and GitOps, enforce guardrails with policy-as-code, and make the product case for a platform team — the skills behind the Platform Engineer career path.
What is Platform Engineering?
Platform Engineering is the practice of building internal platforms that give development teams self-service capabilities — reducing cognitive load and improving developer experience. If DevOps is a culture, the platform is its product.
Stage 0: Prerequisites — learn them here
This path assumes solid ground in four areas, all covered on CloudCaptain:
| Prerequisite | Guide |
|---|---|
| CI/CD | Fundamentals + GitOps |
| Infrastructure as Code | Terraform Fundamentals → Advanced |
| Containers & Kubernetes | Docker → Kubernetes → Workloads |
| One cloud provider | AWS · Azure · GCP |
Not there yet? Run the DevOps path and Containers path first.
Stage 1: Platform Foundations (2–3 weeks)
- Understand developer workflows and pain points — the platform's "user research"
- API design and service architecture — platforms are consumed programmatically
- Infrastructure automation at scale — Terraform modules as reusable building blocks
- Kubernetes production operations — the substrate most IDPs run on
Stage 2: Platform Building Blocks (3–4 weeks)
- Service catalogs & developer portals — Backstage, Port, Cortex
- Self-service infrastructure — Crossplane, Terraform modules behind an API
- Golden paths — templated, standardized workflows from repo-creation to production
- GitOps delivery — ArgoCD/FluxCD as the deployment backbone
- Internal CLIs — custom tooling; Bash and Python scripting pay off here
Stage 3: Advanced Topics (3–4 weeks)
- Multi-tenancy and resource management on shared clusters
- Policy as Code — OPA, Kyverno; guardrails instead of gates (see Kubernetes Security and DevSecOps)
- FinOps integration — showback/chargeback per team
- Platform metrics and ROI — DORA metrics, developer satisfaction surveys
- Building and running platform teams
Key Principles
- Treat your platform as a product — your developers are your customers
- Self-service first — reduce tickets and waiting
- Golden paths, not golden cages — guide, don't restrict
- Measure everything — DORA metrics, developer satisfaction
- Iterate continuously — platforms are never "done"
Prove It
- Build — stand up a mini-IDP: Backstage + a Terraform module catalog + ArgoCD, letting a "developer" self-serve a new service to production. This is a portfolio-grade project.
- Interview — platform interviews lean on the fundamentals: Kubernetes · Terraform · CI/CD · DevOps
- Level up — the SRE path is the natural sibling track.