As we wrap up 2023, Humanitec's 2023 Platform Engineering survey provides a deep overview of the current state and trends in Platform Engineering, which has grown from a niche community to a key trend in the cloud-native space. The survey, which gathered insights from over 200 Platform Engineering practitioners, covered various aspects including work experience, salary, AI usage, and education levels. It shows that Platform Engineering is still a nascent field, with undefined roles and a wide range of job titles; only a quarter of respondents in the US and Europe have 'platform' in their title, with the majority having general 'engineering' or 'cloud' job titles.
In terms of AI usage, the survey found that the hype around AI in Platform Engineering has not yet fully materialized in day-to-day work. As for salaries, Platform Engineers in the US earn on average 42.5% more than DevOps engineers, though in Europe, the gap is only 18.64%. This difference could reflect the broader or more specialized skillset required of Platform Engineers. The survey also explored the main areas of focus for Platform Engineers, with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and CI/CD being the primary areas, followed by Docker/Kubernetes and networking.
The survey results also show that Platform Engineering professionals typically have a high level of education, with over half holding a Bachelor's degree and nearly a third having a Master's degree. Interestingly, despite the global shift towards hybrid working models, over half of the respondents work remotely. The survey underscores the dynamic nature of Platform Engineering, highlighting the need for clearer role definitions, team structures, and best practices in the industry.
Looking for more data? You can read the results here.
