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
Forward Deployed Engineer Compensation Bands and How to Negotiate Them
Real comp data for FDE roles at Palantir, Scale AI, and startups. Breakdown of base, equity, and bonus by level, plus negotiation levers that actually move numbers.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
Deploying an LLM Feature at an Enterprise in 6 Days: An FDE Case Study
A concrete walkthrough of shipping a retrieval-augmented generation feature behind a Fortune 500 firewall. Covers on-prem constraints, chunking strategy, prompt engineering, and the FDE comp context.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How FDEs Drive Post-Sale Product Adoption with Engineering & Product Teams
A concrete playbook for how Forward Deployed Engineers work with product and engineering after the sale to turn shaky deployments into sticky, adopted infrastructure. Covers feedback loops, roadmap negotiation, and the technical bridge role.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
How Palantir-Style FDEs Embed with Customers to Unlock Trapped Value
A tactical breakdown of how Forward Deployed Engineers embed inside customer environments to find trapped value, build trust, and ship production software within weeks—not quarters.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Writing Customer-Facing Technical Docs That Actually Get Read: An FDE's Playbook
Stop writing documentation that gathers digital dust. This FDE playbook shows you how to write customer-facing technical docs that users actually read, adopt, and thank you for—using audience slicing, the 7 C's, and ruthless scope control.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Does in a Week: A Tactical Breakdown
A concrete, hour-by-hour deconstruction of a Forward Deployed Engineer's week. From debugging customer Kubernetes pods to writing SQL for the CEO before 9 AM, learn the actual workflows, comp context, and career calculus.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
On-Site vs Remote FDE Work: Travel Realities and the Death of the Middle Ground
The Forward Deployed Engineer role is splitting into two extremes: 100% travel on-site or fully remote. We break down the comp, lifestyle, and tactical realities of each so you can pick your path.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
How FDEs Work With Product and Engineering Post-Sale to Drive Adoption
A tactical playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers bridging the gap between closed deals and real adoption. Covers stakeholder mapping, technical integration loops, and how to build product feedback flywheels without becoming a permanent outsourced engineering team.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: A Tactical Breakdown
A concrete, week-in-the-life breakdown of a Forward Deployed Engineer. From debugging a customer's on-prem Linux server at 8 AM to shipping a Python integration by noon, see the real workflow, tools, and comp numbers behind the FDE role.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Mock Interview Blueprint: 5 Customer Scenarios You Must Debug and Architect Live
Master the FDE mock interview by debugging real-world scenarios under pressure. A tactical guide covering architecture, code, and customer handling for forward deployed roles at Google, Palantir, and OpenAI.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
From Forward Deployed to Core: How to Pivot from a Palantir FDE to a Product SWE Role
A concrete playbook for Palantir FDEs pivoting to product software engineering. Tactical resume rewrites, system design reframes, and interview prep to close the perceived gap between deployment chaos and core platform building.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Writing Customer-Facing Technical Docs That Developers Actually Read: An FDE's Playbook
For Forward Deployed Engineers, documentation isn't a chore—it's the product interface. Learn the high-signal writing patterns that prevent support tickets, close enterprise deals, and make your integration the one engineers actually adopt.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
How Palantir-Style FDEs Embed with Customers to Unlock Trapped Value
A concrete playbook on how Forward Deployed Engineers operate inside customer walls, from scoping trapped value to shipping production code. Includes real workflows, Palantir FDE compensation data, and the career math behind the role.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Palantir FDE Interview Loop Deconstructed: How to Prepare for Each Stage
A stage-by-stage breakdown of the Palantir Forward Deployed Engineer interview loop. Real scenarios, decomp strategies, compensation context, and a tactical prep plan to handle the decomp, learning, and HM calls.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
How Palantir AIP FDEs Embed with Customers to Operationalize LLMs
A concrete breakdown of how Palantir AIP Forward Deployed Engineers embed with customers to move LLMs from prototype to production—covering workflows, architecture, and the metrics that matter.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Scaling Yourself: When and How an FDE Hands Off to Core Engineering
A concrete playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers on identifying when a prototype has crossed the chasm from 'heroic support' to technical debt. Learn the handoff triggers, artifact requirements, and compensation context for the $250K+ FDE role.
7 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: how to scope ambiguity, pick the right stack, and ship a working prototype that earns trust and expansion revenue in 5 days.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: A Time-Study Breakdown
A raw time-study of a Forward Deployed Engineer's week: 40% coding, 35% customer context, and 25% internal alignment. See the real flow from Monday chaos to Friday shipped value.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Metrics an FDE Owns: Time-to-Value, Adoption Velocity, and Expansion Signals
Forward Deployed Engineers don't just ship code—they own business outcomes. Master the three metrics that define your impact: slashing Time-to-Value, engineering Adoption Velocity, and instrumenting Expansion Signals to unlock multi-million dollar accounts.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: A Time-Study Breakdown
A granular, 7-day time-study of a Forward Deployed Engineer. See the real workflows, tools, and decisions that turn 60% coding and 40% customer engineering into shipped value.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
How Palantir AIP FDEs Embed with Customers to Operationalize LLMs
A concrete case study on how Palantir AIP Forward Deployed Engineers embed with customers to move LLMs from demos to production—covering ontology design, guardrails, and the real comp/career numbers.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: A Palantir-Style Breakdown
A concrete, week-in-the-life breakdown of a Forward Deployed Engineer—moving from a high-stakes Monday morning fire to shipping a prototype by Friday. Covers real workflows, comp numbers, and the core difference between FDEs and standard SWEs.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Case Study: Deploying a RAG-Powered LLM Feature at a Regulated Enterprise
A concrete engineering walkthrough of shipping a retrieval-augmented generation feature inside a Fortune 500 insurer. Covers air-gapped deployment, chunking strategy, audit logging, and the FDE comp context.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
On-Site vs Remote FDE Work: Travel Realities, Burnout, and Comp Implications
A deep-dive into the FDE lifestyle tradeoffs: why on-site deployment weeks hit different, how travel and burnout risk affect compensation, and a decision framework for engineers.
9 min read
345 articles and counting