The FDE Coach blog · new articles every day
Practical guides for engineers who ship AI.
Step-by-step builds with free AI tools, what just shipped in AI and why it matters, and Forward Deployed Engineer playbooks on interviews, pay and client work.
FDE playbooks, case studies, and career deep-dives.
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Forward Deployed
From FDE to Founder: Why Forward Deployed Engineering Is the Ultimate Startup MBA
Forget business school. Forward Deployed Engineering is the highest-signal founder training ground, compressing years of product-market-fit iteration into months of high-stakes, on-site execution.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Case Study: Deploying a RAG-Based LLM Feature at an Enterprise Customer in 10 Days
A real-world breakdown of shipping a Retrieval-Augmented Generation feature inside a locked-down enterprise. We cover architecture decisions, security battles, and the FDE comp context.
5 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Interview Loop: How to Prepare for Execution, Not LeetCode Crimes
Stop grinding binary trees. The FDE interview tests your ability to ship value in messy enterprise environments. Learn the real scenarios, tools, and comp context to win.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Palantir-Style FDE Embed: Weekly Rituals, Artifacts, and Trust
A concrete playbook on how Forward Deployed Engineers embed with enterprise customers, build trust through weekly rituals, and deliver high-impact artifacts using the Palantir FDE ontology.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: Trust, Code, and Customer Obsession
A week in the life of an FDE: from diagnosing a silent data corruption bug on Monday to shipping a critical integration on Friday. Real workflows, tools, and the trust mechanics that make the role work.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
Case Study: Deploying an LLM Feature at an Enterprise Customer in 10 Days
A step-by-step engineering breakdown of shipping a RAG-based LLM feature in a locked-down enterprise. Code, comp numbers, and the real reason the VP of Engineering renewed the contract.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Scaling Yourself: When an FDE Should Hand Off a Prototype to Core Engineering
A concrete playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers on the signals, timing, and mechanics of handing off a prototype. Avoid becoming a bottleneck and learn to scale yourself.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
How Palantir-Style FDEs Embed with Customers: Weekly Rituals That Build Trust
A concrete playbook on Palantir-style FDE customer embedding. Real weekly rituals, war-room mechanics, and trust-building workflows that turn a pilot into a $10M ACV expansion.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
How FDEs Work with Product and Engineering After the Sale Closes
A concrete playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers bridging the gap between a signed contract and production value. Real scenarios, handoff rituals, compensation context, and the tools that prevent post-sale drift.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Scaling Yourself: When and How an FDE Hands Off to Core Engineering
A tactical playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers on recognizing when a prototype has outgrown you, navigating the handoff to platform teams, and avoiding the 'perma-FDE' trap.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
On-Site vs Remote FDE: Travel Realities, Comp, and What to Expect
A concrete breakdown of on-site vs remote Forward Deployed Engineer life: travel percentages, compensation premiums, trust-building mechanics, and the tools that make or break hybrid workflows.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
Case Study: Deploying a Risky LLM Feature at a Regulated Enterprise in 3 Weeks
A real playbook for deploying an LLM feature into a locked-down F500 bank. We cover the 3-week timeline, the PII redaction architecture, the compliance theater, and the $280k FDE comp context behind the decision to ship.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
A Forward Deployed Engineer's Week: Diving Deep on a Single Customer Problem
A concrete, day-by-day playbook of what a Forward Deployed Engineer actually does in a week. Real scenarios, tools, decisions, and comp context. No hype.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: A Time Audit
A raw, engineer-to-engineer breakdown of the FDE week: from high-stakes customer debugging and rapid prototyping to internal tooling. No fluff, just real scenarios, tools, and comp context.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
From Messy Problem to Shipped Prototype in a Week: The FDE Customer Playbook
A concrete playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers on how to parse ambiguous customer pain, scope ruthlessly, and ship a working prototype in five days. Real scenarios, tools, and comp context included.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
FDE Compensation Bands and How to Negotiate Your Offer in 2026
Concrete 2026 FDE compensation data and negotiation frameworks. Learn to decode equity, benchmark total comp, and run the offer process like a technical sales cycle.
12 min read
Forward Deployed
Debugging in the Customer's Environment Without Their Access: An FDE Playbook
A concrete playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers debugging customer issues when you can't touch their stack. Real scenarios, tooling decisions, and comp context.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
FDE Compensation Bands and How to Negotiate Your Offer in 2026
Real FDE compensation bands from pre-seed to FAANG, a tactical negotiation playbook for forward deployed engineers, and scripts to secure a 30%+ increase without burning the offer.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
The Tools an FDE Ships With: Data, Integrations, and Demos
A concrete playbook on the tools a Forward Deployed Engineer actually ships with in 2026. From scripting data pipelines to building customer demos, here is the real stack.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
Writing Customer-Facing Technical Docs That Engineers Actually Read
Stop treating customer docs as an afterthought. Learn the FDE playbook for writing technical documentation that engineers trust, skim, and actually use to ship faster.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
On-Site vs Remote FDE Work: Travel Realities, Comp, and Career Impact
Forward Deployed Engineers face unique on-site vs remote tradeoffs involving 50-75% travel, high-stakes customer immersion, and significant comp premiums. This guide breaks down the real workflows, travel cadences, and career decisions.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How FDEs Turn a Messy Customer Problem into a Shipped Prototype in a Week
A concrete playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers on compressing chaos into code. Learn the triage, scoping, stack selection, and demo tactics to ship a working prototype in 5 days.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
Building Trust with Non-Technical Stakeholders as an FDE
A tactical playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers to earn trust from non-technical stakeholders. Learn to translate technical debt into revenue risk, scope like a consultant, and use visual demos to align engineering with business goals.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
Metrics an FDE Owns: Time-to-Value, Adoption, and Expansion Revenue
Forget vanity metrics. Forward Deployed Engineers are measured by brutal, business-critical outcomes: how fast customers go live, how deeply they adopt, and the revenue that follows. Here's the exact playbook.
9 min read
345 articles and counting