Platform Career Skill: What It Does and How to Install It

Helps you plan a developer-platform career: role track, company type, entry path, interview prep and offer benchmarking.

Installs: 9.7K; on skills.sh
Stars: 9; on GitHub
Files: 6; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Nov 2026; last repo commit

developer-platform-career makes Claude act as a career coach for the external, public-API-platform track: API Product Manager, Platform Engineer or Architect, and Partner or Integration Engineer. It first separates this track from internal developer platforms (Kubernetes, Backstage, golden paths), then covers company archetype, the career ladder, entry paths, interview prep and compensation.

It loads when you ask how to break into platform or API product work, prepare for a platform or API-PM interview, or evaluate an offer. It asks nine interview questions first. It is the candidate side only and bundles five reference files and no scripts.

Good for

Engineers or PMs moving into API product or platform work
Candidates preparing for API-design interviews
People comparing a platform job offer against a general engineering or PM ladder

Install developer-platform-career

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the developer-platform-career skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

/plugin marketplace add samber/developer-platform-skills
/plugin install developer-platform-skills@developer-platform-skills

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

The README installs every skill in the repo (61 skills/*/SKILL.md in the git tree), because skills here reference each other. developer-platform-career is one of them. Pick one route, not both.

From the project README. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Plans a developer-platform career from the candidate side - API Product Manager, Platform Engineer/Architect, Partner/Integration Engineer. Disambiguates "platform engineer" first - the term overwhelmingly means internal developer platforms (Kubernetes, Backstage, golden paths) elsewhere in the industry; this skill covers only the external/public-API-platform track. States the key finding that splits this track from DevRel's - platform compensation rides the general engineering/PM ladder, not a separate undersurveyed one. Covers GitLab's real Partner Engineer ladder, the API-design-vs-system-design interview split, and RFC/design-doc portfolio signals. Use when the user asks how to break into platform/API product work, prep for a platform or API-PM interview, or evaluate an offer. Do NOT use for hiring (samber/developer-platform-skills@developer-platform-hiring) or advocate/community/educator roles (samber/developer-relations-skills@devrel-career).

Sections in SKILL.md

Disambiguate "platform engineer" first
Interview
Choosing a company archetype
The ladder
Entry paths
Interview preparation
What separates top practitioners
Compensation
Failure modes
Objective and measurement
Reference

Key facts

Author: Samuel Berthe
Repo: samber/developer-platform-skills, which holds 61 skills
License: MIT (LICENSE, README, plugin.json and SKILL.md all say MIT)
Version in SKILL.md: 1.0.1
Installs on skills.sh: 9,696 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars (repo): 9 (Nov 2, 2026)
Last commit (repo): Nov 1, 2026
What installs: 7 files including SKILL.md: 5 reference files and evals/evals.json; no scripts
Needs: The other skills in the repo; the README says to install all of them
Works in: Claude.ai, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and tools that read skills.sh installs

What it includes

Separates external API platforms from internal developer platforms first.
SKILL.md says the term mostly means internal developer platforms elsewhere; this skill covers only the external track.
Disambiguate "platform engineer"
Asks nine questions about your background and goals.
Interview
Calibrates the target company type.
Choosing a company archetype
Lays out the role ladder, including GitLab's Partner Engineer ladder.
The ladder
Plans how to break in from where you stand.
Entry paths
Prepares for the API-design-versus-system-design interview split.
Interview preparation
Covers what sets top practitioners apart.
What separates top practitioners
Benchmarks pay against the general engineering or PM ladder.
Compensation

From the official docs

Permissions

Low risk

This skill writes design advice and bundles no scripts, so the main thing to watch is where your agent saves notes.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

It may save notes to developer-platform-context.md
SKILL.md says that when your agent keeps memory in a file, it should consider using this file name. Our advice: keep it out of commits if it holds company plans. github.com

Technical details

Scopes	Asks you interview questions and writes a plan from your answers

Questions

How do I install developer-platform-career?

Use the install box at the top of this page. The README says to install every skill in samber/developer-platform-skills, not one, because the skills hand work to each other. Pick one route per agent.

Does developer-platform-career work in Claude, Codex and Cursor?

The README documents install routes for Claude.ai (plugin marketplace), Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI and the skills.sh CLI. The install box lists each one.

What does it ask me before it designs anything?

SKILL.md lists nine questions to ask first, and the answers change the later steps. Have your current setup and constraints ready.

Does it run scripts or need an API key?

It bundles no scripts. The folder holds SKILL.md, reference Markdown files and an evals file, and the skill works by asking you questions and writing advice.

Is developer-platform-career safe to install?

It bundles no scripts, so installing it adds instructions and reference files rather than programs. SKILL.md also suggests that, if your agent keeps notes in a file, it uses developer-platform-context.md. Our advice: keep that file out of public commits if it holds company plans, and check any figures the skill cites against their sources before quoting them to customers.

Is this for hiring or for DevRel roles?

Not hiring: SKILL.md points employer-side work to developer-platform-hiring. It also points advocate, community and educator roles to devrel-career in a separate repository, samber/developer-relations-skills.

What does "platform engineer" mean here?

External API platform work, not internal developer platforms. SKILL.md says the term mostly means internal developer platforms (Kubernetes, Backstage, golden paths) elsewhere in the industry, and that this skill covers only the external track.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: samber/developer-platform-skills
Folder: skills/developer-platform-career

samber/developer-platform-skills skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 2

samber/developer-platform-skills README · github.com
developer-platform-career SKILL.md · github.com