u/Substantial-Singer54

I'm currently working as a backend software engineer with ~2 years of experience. My primary language is Go, though I'm also comfortable with the Java ecosystem and enjoy working with it.

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview for an SDE-2 role at a large tech company on their cloud infrastructure team. As part of the interview preparation, I had to learn Kubernetes and dive into infrastructure concepts. Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying that side of engineering much more than I expected.

Now I'm considering whether I should transition into Platform Engineering.

To clarify, I'm not looking to move into traditional DevOps or SRE roles where the focus is primarily on operations, on-call, and production support. I'd still like to spend most of my time building software (ideally in Go/Java), but on developer platforms, internal tooling, Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, and automation.

A few reasons I'm considering the switch:

• I genuinely enjoy infrastructure and distributed systems.
• Platform engineering seems to involve a lot of backend engineering along with infrastructure.
• The talent pool appears smaller than general backend development (though I could be completely wrong).
• It feels like a specialization that may remain valuable as AI tooling improves.
• Compensation at top companies seems comparable to backend software engineering.

At the same time, I'm worried about accidentally ending up in a role that's closer to DevOps/SRE, with frequent on-call rotations and a worse work-life balance.

For those of you working as platform engineers:

• What does your day-to-day work actually look like?
• How much of your time is spent writing code versus operational work?
• Is platform engineering a good long-term career path compared to backend software engineering?
• If you were in my position (2 YOE backend with Go), would you make the switch?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and any advice you have.

I'm currently working as a backend software engineer with ~2 years of experience. My primary language is Go, though I'm also comfortable with the Java ecosystem and enjoy working with it.

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview for an SDE-2 role at a large tech company on their cloud infrastructure team. As part of the interview preparation, I had to learn Kubernetes and dive into infrastructure concepts. Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying that side of engineering much more than I expected.

Now I'm considering whether I should transition into Platform Engineering.

To clarify, I'm not looking to move into traditional DevOps or SRE roles where the focus is primarily on operations, on-call, and production support. I'd still like to spend most of my time building software (ideally in Go), but on developer platforms, internal tooling, Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, and automation.

A few reasons I'm considering the switch:

• I genuinely enjoy infrastructure and distributed systems.
• Platform engineering seems to involve a lot of backend engineering along with infrastructure.
• The talent pool appears smaller than general backend development (though I could be completely wrong).
• It feels like a specialization that may remain valuable as AI tooling improves.
• Compensation at top companies seems comparable to backend software engineering.

At the same time, I'm worried about accidentally ending up in a role that's closer to DevOps/SRE, with frequent on-call rotations and a worse work-life balance.

For those of you working as platform engineers:

• What does your day-to-day work actually look like?
• How much of your time is spent writing code versus operational work?
• Is platform engineering a good long-term career path compared to backend software engineering?
• If you were in my position (2 YOE backend with Go), would you make the switch?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and any advice you have.

I'm currently working at a fintech company with about 2 years of experience and a salary of ₹4.5 LPA. The work-life balance is genuinely good, and the job itself is fairly stable.
However, one thing that has been bothering me is how undervalued I feel. During a compensation discussion, the SVP of Engineering literally told me, "I know it's your unfortunate luck that you joined at this salary, but I can't do anything about it." Since I joined through an off-campus hiring process, even interns in the company are now being hired at higher packages (around ₹6 LPA), despite me having 2 years of experience.
Recently, I received an offer from an Indian startup for ₹9 LPA, which is exactly double my current compensation. The role seems interesting, but the company operates in the edtech space, and that's where my concerns begin.
I'm worried about:
The long-term growth prospects of the edtech industry.
The financial stability of the startup.
The possibility of layoffs or the company shutting down.
Giving up a good work-life balance for a potentially stressful startup environment.
At the same time, staying at my current company feels difficult when I'm being paid significantly below market rates and don't feel respected by management.
If you were in my position, would you take the startup offer, negotiate harder with the current employer, or continue searching for better opportunities?
Would appreciate advice from people who have faced a similar decision.

Hi everyone,
I’m currently a backend software engineer with 2 years of experience. I currently work primarily with Golang and Python, but I’m significantly underpaid (4.5 LPA) and looking to make a switch to a role offering market standards (targeting 9-13 LPA).
The challenge I am facing is a severe lack of interview callbacks for Golang roles. Despite having my resume professionally optimized for ATS, I’ve only landed 2 interviews in the last 6 months. Meanwhile, looking at platforms like Naukri, it feels like 97% of backend openings in my target range are for Java developers.
Because of this, I am seriously considering pivoting to Java to increase my surface area for opportunities.
My Current Skillset:
• Languages: Golang, Python.
• DSA/Problem Solving: LeetCode Knight. I actually used Java for DSA for several months, so I am highly comfortable with the syntax and core concepts.
• System Design: Solid understanding at an SDE-1/SDE-2 level.
• OOP: Good foundational knowledge from using C# heavily during my internship.
My Dilemma:
While I know core Java, I don't have enterprise experience with Java frameworks (like Spring Boot) on my resume. I am fully prepared to grind and build out a robust Spring Boot backend to master the framework before joining a new org, but I need to get past the initial resume screening first.
My Questions for the Community:

1. How should I position my current backend experience on my resume to appeal to Java recruiters without having direct Spring Boot experience on the job?
2. Is it advisable to build a complex Java side-project now and list it prominently to bridge the gap?
3. For those who have successfully pivoted languages for a job switch, what was your strategy for clearing framework-specific interview rounds?

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