Frequently Asked Questions

What is infrastructure engineering?

Infrastructure engineering is a field within software engineering with a focus on reliable, efficient, productive and secure systems.

What is an infrastructure engineer?

Early in their careers, infrastructure engineers come from a similar background as any other software engineer (computer science degree programs, bootcamps, self-taught, and so on). As they get further in their career, they develop more specialized skills across scalable architecture, debugging and scaling real systems, distributed systems, developer productivity, and so on.

What are other common names for infrastructure engineering?

Every company uses its own name for infrastructure engineering. Some common names used instead of infrastructure engineering are platform engineering, foundation engineering, systems engineering, developer productivity engineer, and sometimes devops.

Are titles like infrastructure engineer real titles? Do all companies distinguish between infrastructure and software engineers?

This varies wildly by company. Some companies do explicitly use the infrastructure engineer title, or even devops engineer, but it’s more common to use the software engineer title and keep the infrastructure engineering title to describe the organization they work in.

What does an infrastructure engineer do?

This varies widely by company, but generally they focus on addressing their companies security, reliability, productivity, and efficiency needs.

What is the salary for an infrastructure engineer? What is the salary for a platform engineer?

There is no consensus salary band for infrastructure or platform engineers, or any other engineering role for that matter. This will vary greatly depending on the company stage, location, and your level. levels.fyi is a great dataset for determining if a particular offer is a fair one.