SRE ≠ DevOps ≠ DevSecOps ≠ Platform Engineer ≠ Cloud Engineer

[Chetan_Tiwary_]

Think all these roles are the same? Think again. 

Whether it’s DevOps, SRE, Cloud, Platform, or DevSecOps engineer :- each job has its own tools, tasks, and mindset. In this post, I am cutting through the confusion and laying out what each role actually does. No fluff. Just real-world responsibilities to help you choose and prepare the right role that you aspire. This is not a comprehensive list and it may differ slightly from organisation to organisation and it may have little bit overlapping roles but nonetheless it gives you a broader perspective as to what each role usually does. 

𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐎𝐩𝐬 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫

• Automates builds, tests, and deployments in CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
  
• Writes Infrastructure-as-Code rules using Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation
• Sets up system monitoring and dashboards with Prometheus, Grafana, or ELK tools
• Handles incident alerts and on-call tasks to mitigate downtime
  
  
• Integrates basic security scans and compliance checks into pipelines
  
  
• Collaborates with dev and ops teams and documents workflows

𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫

• Designs and implements cloud infrastructure on AWS, GCP, or Azure
• Automates provisioning via Terraform or native IaC tools
  
  
• Configures VPCs, load balancers, security groups, and IAM setups
• Monitors usage, scales systems, and optimises cloud costs
  
  
• Responds to cloud incidents and resolves issues
  
  
• Documents architecture and guides ad hoc changes

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫

• Builds platforms devs use to deploy apps with tools like Terraform
• Creates reusable modules and shared CI/CD pipelines for teams
• Builds self-service interfaces for deployment and infra access
• Automates secrets, repo creation, and policy enforcement
• Supports developers during onboarding and infra troubleshooting
• Maintains platform docs and shared code libraries
  
  

𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 (𝐒𝐑𝐄)

• Monitors system health: latency, errors, traffic, saturation
  
  
• Builds alerts, dashboards, and automated health checks
• Runs incident drills, on-call rotation, root cause analysis
  
  
• Automates toil: infra, deployments, recovery, restart flows
  
  
• Plans capacity with load tests and auto scaling
• Defines SLOs, SLIs, tracks error budgets with team

𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐎𝐩𝐬 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫

• Embeds security scans (SAST, DAST) into CI/CD pipelines
  
  
• Automates compliance and access control checks
• Reviews code and infra for new vulnerabilities
• Manages tools like Vault, Security Hub, WAF, GuardDuty
• Trains teams and documents security steps and policies
• Handles security incidents and reports root causes
  
  

𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫

• Manages software builds and version tracking in Git or CM systems
  
  
• Maintains automated pipelines for build and deployment
• Coordinates release rollout with dev, QA, and ops teams
  
  
• Troubleshoots build or deployment issues across environments
• Keeps release docs, process steps, and version notes up to date
  
• Monitors release metrics and improves pipelines over time

Feel free to suggest edits or addition if you are aware of any responsibilities which is not correct or should be added to this list. 

Pick a lane. Go deep. Break things. Fix them. Repeat.

You don’t need to know everything , just enough to solve real problems.
The rest? You will figure it out as you go. That’s how real engineers grow. Cheers!!

[FreemanBoss]

A nice read and very insightful. Who does the work of solution architect? and system design?

[Chetan_Tiwary_]

@FreemanBoss Thanks for followup question. 

AFAIK ...

A solution architect plans how all parts of a system will work together. They choose the tech stack, decide how data moves, and set integration points. They work with business teams to match the design to the company’s goals. They also make sure the design fits budgets, deadlines, and compliance rules.

System design is the detailed blueprint that comes from this planning. It shows the components, APIs, data storage, and how everything connects. In large firms, a dedicated system designer may work with the architect. In smaller teams, senior engineers or developers handle both jobs.

If I can summarise in short notes for a general understanding, it can be like this :

• Solution Architect - Decides what to build and why.

• System Designer - Maps how every part will work.

• DevOps Engineer - Automates building and shipping the product.

• SRE - Keeps it up and running without fail.

• Platform Engineer - Builds tools so others can build faster.

• Cloud Engineer - Shapes and manages the cloud home.

• DevSecOps Engineer - Locks the doors while you build and run.

• Release Engineer - Opens the gates for users to enter.

As I mentioned earlier in many organisations, some of these roles overlap and it is not a hard n fast rule to have these roles for each individual work but by role definition I think the summary is close to the reality. 

What do you think ? Do you have anything to add here and you are more than welcome to correct me if any info needs slight modification. 

cheers!

[FreemanBoss]

not at all, this is a perfect reply and summary. You nailed it all. I am really impressed with your writing and expression skill

[Chetan_Tiwary_]

Great @FreemanBoss thanks for your feedback!!