Rethinking DevOps: From Scripts to Platforms, From Infra as Code to Infra as Interfaces.

Over the years, I’ve seen the 𝗖𝗡𝗖𝗙 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲 and the broader open-source ecosystem evolve dramatically. It started with solving specific infrastructure challenges — observability, container orchestration, security, service meshes, CI/CD, and so on. Each tool had its own purpose, and teams would hand pic the tools and stitch them together based on their needs.

But lately, I’ve started noticing a 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 — it doesn’t feel like it’s just about tools anymore. There’s a growing trend, especially in the 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲, toward building something more unified. Instead of just picking tools off the shelf, teams are starting to build 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀— composable, API-driven systems that developers can actually build on top of. It’s less about operations reacting to needs, and more about 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁.

🧩 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺: 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 itself 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲.

DevOps bridged the gap between developers and operations, but over time it became 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁-𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝘆, 𝗬𝗔𝗠𝗟-𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, and increasingly complex. As we scaled, we hit diminishing returns:

• Terraform state files crack at team scale.

• CI/CD pipelines became fragile glue

• Ops turned into gatekeepers again

In one startup I worked with, developers had to wait days for infra tickets to be fulfilled. When we moved to a GitOps-driven system backed by Crossplane, deployment time and provisioning time dropped from 𝟰𝟱 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟬, and onboarding new services became self-service.

The takeaway?

What we need is not more automation. We need DevOps itself to scale — through abstraction.

🔄 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮 𝗮𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 → 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮 𝗮𝘀 𝗔𝗣𝗜𝘀

Kubernetes is no longer just a container orchestrator. It’s becoming a 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲 — an interface layer for infrastructure, applications, workflows, security, policies etc.

With tools like 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲, we can define cloud resources as CRDs and let Kubernetes’ reconciliation engine manage state. Git becomes the source of truth, and the K8s API becomes the contract. No brittle scripts. No waiting.

This is not just “infrastructure as code.”

This is 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗣𝗜𝘀.

🧬 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 (𝗜𝗗𝗣𝘀)

So where does this leave developer experience?

This is where 𝗜𝗗𝗣𝘀 come in — and they’re misunderstood. An IDP isn’t a dashboard for ops scripts. It’s a 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿-𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 that exposes safe, self-service access to infrastructure and applications.

Tools like 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 and 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁 are not just UIs. They serve as:

✅ Standardized and safe templates for infra and app scaffolding.

✅ Secure abstraction layers over GitOps / Kubernetes APIs

✅ A product mindset for internal tooling

An IDP isn't about hiding infrastructure — it's about productizing it.

🚀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗜’𝗺 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝘀

I’m working on an Internal Developer Platform (IDP) that enables:

👉 Port or Backstage → Git PR → Argo CD or Flux → Kubernetes → Crossplane → Infra provisioned

Here’s how it works:

• Developers scaffold services from templates (Port/Backstage)

• App and infra manifests trigger a Git PR

• GitOps tools deploy via Argo CD or Flux

• Crossplane provisions infra dynamically

Kubernetes acts as a universal control plane — APIs for apps, infra, workflows, and policies

✅ Self-service

✅ API-first

✅ Auditable & scalable

This isn't just a toolchain — it's a shift in mindset:

• Interfaces > Scripts

• Reconciliation > Imperative Pipelines

• Platforms > Pipelines

• Developer Experience > Infra Internals

Infrastructure is no longer something handed to developers — it’s something they build and own, powered by APIs and self-service platforms.”

And Kubernetes?

It’s no longer just a container orchestrator — it’s becoming the operating system for the cloud-native stack.

🔚 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁

The future of DevOps isn't more YAML — it's 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. IDPs are how we get there. Kubernetes is how we standardize it. APIs are how we scale it.

Pipelines ship code. Platforms scale teams.

#PlatformEngineering #Kubernetes #CloudNative #InfrastructureAsAPI #Crossplane #InternalDeveloperPlatform #SystemDesign #DeveloperExperience