Reflections on September 2023: Balancing Act in Platform Engineering

Hey everyone,

It’s been another intense month in tech. As I sit down to write this blog post, the AI/LLM infrastructure explosion is at its peak, with every tech company and platform engineer struggling to keep up. The FCC Commissioner’s proposal for regulating IoT security updates adds a layer of regulatory pressure, while FinOps continues to be a hot topic due to cloud cost pressures. I can only imagine what my colleagues are dealing with as we all try to navigate this complex landscape.

This morning, I was debugging an issue with our platform that seemed like it would never resolve. We had integrated WebAssembly into one of our server-side services and were seeing some weird edge cases where the service would hang or crash. It’s frustrating when a tech you’re excited about turns out to be a can of worms.

I spent most of the day trying to get a handle on this. I pulled in logs, tried to step through the code with a debugger, and even set up some automated tests. Finally, after hours of debugging, it clicked—I had made an off-by-one error in my WebAssembly module that was causing the service to enter an infinite loop. A simple fix, but the experience reminded me why I love diving into these deep tech issues.

But let’s step back and talk about the bigger picture. This month, a flurry of activity on Hacker News has been reflecting the current zeitgeist. One story that caught my eye was the FCC Commissioner’s proposal to regulate IoT security updates. As someone who deals with platform infrastructure, I can see how this could be a game-changer for both vendors and users. It brings up questions about liability and the role of regulation in technology.

Another interesting thread was the Raspberry Pi 5 announcement. I’ve been following the Raspberry Pi journey since its early days, and seeing what they’re doing now is exciting. They are not just stopping at consumer-grade computing; they are pushing the boundaries into more robust industrial applications. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most innovative tech comes from unexpected places.

On another note, the discussion about WiFi without internet on Southwest flights made me reflect on how we balance user experience with security and compliance. It’s a delicate dance, especially when dealing with legacy systems and strict regulatory environments like airlines.

FinOps continues to be a hot topic for us at work. We’ve been implementing DORA metrics more rigorously to keep an eye on our deployment frequency, lead time, failure rate, and mean time to recovery. It’s tough to see our costs skyrocketing while our services are under pressure from new competitors with better infrastructure. But that’s the reality of working in a tech environment where every company is trying to out-innovate the others.

A few days ago, I had an interesting conversation about staff+ engineering tracks at work. The traditional developer track is evolving, and there’s now more recognition for roles like platform engineers who focus on the underlying infrastructure rather than just the application code. It’s a welcome shift in how we think about tech roles.

And let’s not forget the NSO Group iPhone zero-click exploit that made headlines. As someone who deals with security day-to-day, it’s always sobering to see the lengths that some bad actors will go to. It reinforces the importance of staying vigilant and constantly improving our security measures.

As I sign off, I can’t help but feel a mix of frustration, excitement, and curiosity about what the future holds. Technology is moving so fast that it feels like we’re always playing catch-up. But that’s also part of the fun—being on the cutting edge and seeing where all these pieces will fit together.

Stay tuned for more updates as I continue to navigate this exciting but challenging landscape.

Cheers, Brandon