Hey there, fellow engineers! I’m Brandon/@bitbucket90, and if someone had told me back in 2008 when I was a Combat Engineer in the US Army that I’d be writing a blog about platform engineering, I probably would have laughed while continuing to build bridges and set explosives. Yet here we are, and what a journey it’s been.
From Military Deployments to Code Deployments: A Different Kind of Engineering
My path to platform engineering wasn’t exactly traditional. I started as an E-4 (12N/B)Engineer in the Army, where I learned that engineering isn’t just about building things – it’s about solving problems under pressure. Little did I know that experience would come in handy during the COVID-19 pandemic when I helped scale platforms for Zoom and Moderna. Different kind of pressure, same problem-solving mindset.
Why GitShipDone? Why Now?
Here’s the thing: our industry has a communication problem. We have amazing conferences, corporate meetups, and countless Slack channels, but something’s missing. While working on projects like developing a proof of concept for the Bank of Japan’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or building encrypted communication platforms for FVEY intelligence partners, I realized that some of the most valuable insights came from informal conversations with other engineers about their real experiences – the victories, the failures, and everything in between.
Beyond the Buzzwords
Platform engineering isn’t just about Kubernetes clusters and CI/CD pipelines (though I love a well-architected infrastructure as code solution as much as the next engineer). It’s about the stories behind the solutions. Like that time at AWS when I managed $250M+ in annual recurring revenue for ISVs in the Bay Area – sounds impressive, right? But the real story was about the late-night troubleshooting sessions, the “aha” moments, and the lessons learned from things that didn’t quite work as planned.
What to Expect from GitShipDone
This isn’t going to be your typical technical blog/podcast. Sure, we’ll dive deep into technical challenges – you don’t spend years working with Fortune 50 companies without accumulating some interesting technical war stories. But more importantly, we’ll:
- Share real stories from the trenches of platform engineering
- Explore both the technical and human sides of our challenges
- Create a space for engineers to learn from each other’s experiences
- Build a community that goes beyond just sharing code snippets and war stories.
The Road Ahead
In the coming weeks, we’ll explore stories like scaling during the COVID-19 pandemic (spoiler alert: it involved a lot of coffee and picking up a dip habit again!), building AI/ML platforms for the Department of Defense (less exciting than it sounds, more interesting than you’d expect), and the everyday challenges that make platform engineering both frustrating and rewarding.
Join the Journey
Whether you’re a seasoned platform engineer, a curious developer, or someone who just enjoys good engineering stories, GitShipDone is for you. We’re going to pull knowledge and push progress (yes, that’s our tagline, and I’m pretty proud of it).
Got stories to share? Battle scars from a deployment gone wrong? Victories that deserve to be celebrated? This is your platform too. Let’s build this community together. Interview submission will be live in the coming weeks.
Because at the end of the day, platform engineering isn’t just about shipping code – it’s about the people behind the platforms and the stories they have to tell.
Stay tuned for more stories, insights, and maybe a few dad jokes about containerization. Because if you can’t have fun while talking about Kubernetes, you’re probably doing it wrong.
See you in the next post!
-Brandon
P.S. Yes, we will definitely deep dive into that National Bank CBDC project and the physics simulation platform for Boom Supersonic. Those stories deserve their own posts!