Hi all, I have a question about Platform Engineering in the industry in general. How much code do you actually write? Or more in general, how much Software Engineering do you actually do as a Platform Engineer?

Unless there is a specific project to build new infrastructure components, I'd say it's less than 10% of my time. A lot of my time is spent on configuration/integration and software evaluation. Code is only written where glue code is required or no software exists.

I agree with @Niels-Ole. It also would depend on where you are at in the implementation phase. Unless you are looking for unique interfaces, you are mostly doing the IAC work or config adjustments. Your backlog may contain new 3rd parties to integrate, security-related updates, code (IAC) reviews, architecture updates, documentation, policy engine adjustments, etc.

Thank you @Ravinder Kumar and @Niels-Ole for the insight about how your work looks like.

I worked for a company in which platfrom engineers did a lot of heavy lifting and cutting edge stuff. That being said, they were and OSS as a Service company, so I guess they were doing a lot of stuff to take the load off of the internal platform teams or the devops teams.