NA010 - The Future of Platform Engineering with Stuart Clark

Description

NA010 - The Future of Platform Engineering with Stuart Clark From hairdresser to CCIE Automation to Senior Developer Advocate at Spotify — Stuart Clark joins Steinn and Urs for a wide-ranging conversation on platform engineering, internal developer portals, AI in production, and what 8 years in DevRel across Cisco DevNet, AWS, and Spotify actually taught him. The episode digs into Spotify's Backstage and the new Portal SaaS offering, why IDPs become a "voice to chaos" once AI agents start checking in code, why DevRel keeps getting cut first, the gap between AI hype and AI in production, and Stuart's signature Ford RS Turbo metaphor for organizations racing forward without upgrading their brakes. ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 — Intro and Stuart's career arc (hairdresser → CCIE → Cisco DevNet → AWS → Spotify) 03:53 — What happened to Cisco DevNet 11:47 — Working faster, not harder, with AI 14:36 — Claude Code knocking 221 broken links to zero in an hour 16:52 — The AI mania trap and setting boundaries 19:34 — Steinn's hot tub coding confession 21:19 — "An intern I can verbally abuse without HR" 22:31 — DevRel as revenue pipeline, not vanity metrics 31:38 — Spotify, Backstage, and the IDP origin story 38:40 — IDPs explained for network engineers 39:07 — Why IDPs become essential when AI agents are checking in code 50:19 — Skills files, golden paths, and CI/CD 56:43 — The "look squirrel" problem and imposter syndrome in AI 58:38 — Will DevOps and infra teams change rapidly? 1:01:21 — 99% use AI. Only 2% put it in production 1:05:53 — The Ford RS Turbo brakes metaphor for platform engineering 1:09:18 — AI as today's scapegoat for layoffs 1:13:11 — Stuart's hot take: don't let your job define you 1:16:54 — Why a CCIE in fundamentals still beats chasing every shiny thing 1:17:24 — You can't skip Python and go work at Anthropic 1:19:00 — Closing thoughts and where to find Stuart 🔗 Resources mentioned: • Spotify Backstage (open source) — https://backstage.io • Spotify Portal — https://backstage.spotify.com/portal • "Site Reliability Engineering" (Google) — https://sre.google/sre-book/table-of-contents/ 👤 Guest: • Stuart Clark — Senior Developer Advocate, Spotify LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuarteclark/ 🎙️ Hosted by Steinn "Steinzi" Bjarnarson and Urs Baumann 📡 Subscribe and follow: YouTube: https://youtube.com/@networkautomagic Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2UubY0s1KCJ4ct9srD2yUW Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/network-automagic/id1796167806 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/1012b01b8/podcast/rss #NetworkAutomation #NetworkAutomagic #PlatformEngineering #Backstage #Spotify #DevNet #AI #DeveloperAdvocacy #DevRel #Podcast #TechPodcast #IDP #InternalDeveloperPortal #ClaudeCode #Anthropic #CCIE