NA010 – The Future of Platform Engineering with Stuart Clark

Hairdresser to CCIE Automation. Cisco DevNet to AWS to Spotify. Stuart Clark joins Steinn and Urs for a wide-ranging conversation on internal developer portals, AI in production, and what 8 years across DevRel actually taught him about driving revenue instead of vanity metrics.

The conversation digs into Spotify's Backstage and the new Portal SaaS offering, why IDPs become a ”voice to chaos” the moment AI agents start checking in code, what really happened to Cisco DevNet after the leadership changes, and Stuart's signature Ford RS Turbo metaphor for organizations bolting on horsepower without ever upgrading their brakes.

Plus: Claude Code knocking 221 broken links to zero in an hour, the AI mania trap and why Stuart signs out of work apps after 6pm, the conference-room reality that 99% of devs use AI but only 2% run it in production, and Stuart's closing hot take on not letting your job define you.

What we cover:

• Stuart's hairdresser-to-CCIE-Automation career arc

• What happened to Cisco DevNet after Susie Wee and Mandy Whaley left

• Working faster, not harder, with AI assistants

• Setting boundaries in the always-on AI era

• DevRel as revenue pipeline, not vanity metrics

• Spotify's Backstage and the Portal SaaS offering

• Why IDPs are a ”voice to chaos” once AI agents are committing code

• Skills files, golden paths, and CI/CD

• The 99/2 gap between AI use and AI in production

• The Ford RS Turbo brakes metaphor for platform engineering

• Why a strong fundamentals CCIE still beats chasing every shiny thing

• Why AI companies still ask candidates to write Python by hand

Guest:

Stuart Clark, Senior Developer Advocate at Spotify — linkedin.com/in/stuarteclark

Hosted by Steinn ”Steinzi” Bjarnarson and Urs Baumann.

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