You've probably been in that hallway conversation (or Teams/Zoom meeting) where DevOps, SRE and Platform Engineering all get thrown around. Sometimes these words are used interchangeably, as if they were synonyms. Sometimes they indicate different aspects, but nobody really agrees on what they are.

If you can relate, know that you're not alone. That's why we decided to walk through the core differences (and overlaps) of what each term means for us at Payara. 

The Java ecosystem is rapidly evolving, and we'd love to hear how you and your team are approaching this transformation. We’re running a short industry survey to understand how Java teams are modernizing today, what tools and runtimes they rely on, and where platform engineering fits into their journey. 

Platform Engineering is rapidly becoming a must-have approach for modern software teams looking to streamline operations, scale development efficiently, reduce cognitive load on developers while enhancing their productivity. But while the word is on everyone's lips, do we really know what it means? When it comes to middleware solutions, how can a platform engineering-based solution help users?