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
The Tools an FDE Ships With: Data Pipelines, Integration Scaffolds, and Demo Kits
A concrete inventory of the tools a Forward Deployed Engineer actually ships with—from data pipelines and integration scaffolds to demo kits. Real scenarios, stack decisions, and comp context.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How AI-Native Startups Use FDEs to Win and Expand Enterprise Deals
A concrete playbook on how AI-native startups deploy Forward Deployed Engineers to close complex pilots, navigate enterprise security, and scale from $50k POCs to $500k+ platforms.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Writing Customer-Facing Technical Docs That Enterprise Stakeholders Actually Read
Engineer's guide to writing customer-facing technical docs that enterprise stakeholders read instead of archive. Tactics for scoping, architecture decision records, and slashing support tickets.
11 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Interview Loop: How to Prepare for Decomposition, Debugging, and Client Swirl
A concrete guide to the FDE interview loop covering decomposition, debugging under pressure, and navigating client ambiguity. Real scenarios, signal patterns, and prep tactics.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
From FDE to Founder: Why Forward Deployment Is the Ultimate Startup Prep in the AI Era
Forward Deployed Engineers master the exact skills founders need: zero-to-one prototyping in messy customer environments, ruthless scope-cutting, and turning ambiguous problems into shipped AI products. Here's why the FDE path is a startup founder's secret weapon.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Weekly Rhythm: Embed, Ship, and Expand in a Live Customer Environment
Master the Forward Deployed Engineer's weekly operating cadence. Learn the concrete rhythms of embedding, shipping, and expanding inside high-stakes customer environments—from Monday triage to Friday expansion.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Interview Loop: Prepare for Decomposition, Debugging & Client Swirl
A concrete breakdown of the Palantir FDE interview loop—decomposition, debugging, and client swirl. Real scenarios, prep tactics, comp numbers, and no fluff.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Weekly Rhythm: Embed, Ship, and Expand in a Customer Environment
A concrete playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers in New York: how to structure your week from on-site embedding to shipping high-signal expansions. Real workflows, comp context, and no fluff.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How Palantir-Style FDEs Embed with Customers to Unlock Technical Wins
A concrete playbook on how Forward Deployed Engineers embed inside customer environments, debug production systems, and ship code that closes million-dollar deals—no fluff.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How FDEs Turn a Messy Customer Problem into a Shipped Prototype in a Week
A step-by-step playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers: scoping chaos, building a zero-to-one prototype, and shipping it in 5 days while managing stakeholders and technical debt.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Portfolio: Shipped Artifacts and Decision Logs That Get You Hired
Forget generic CRUD apps. An FDE portfolio that wins offers demonstrates high-agency problem-solving, cross-system integration, and explicit technical trade-offs. Here's exactly what to build and how to document it.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: A Diary Breakdown
A real week-in-the-life of a Forward Deployed Engineer. From debugging a customer's Kafka cluster on-site to writing a C-suite memo on the flight home, here are the unvarnished workflows, tools, and decisions that define the FDE role.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How to Break Into FDE Roles from a Backend or Frontend Background
Transition from backend or frontend engineering to Forward Deployed Engineer: the skill gaps, portfolio plays, interview prep, and real comp numbers that get you hired.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Building Trust with Non-Technical Stakeholders as a Forward Deployed Engineer
Trust isn't built in the SOW—it's built in the 15-minute call before the meeting. A tactical FDE playbook for translating chaos into confidence for operators, buyers, and execs.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
On-Site vs Remote FDE Work: Travel Realities, Trust Building, and Impact
Forward Deployed Engineers face a unique tension between on-site immersion and remote execution. We break down the travel cadence, trust-building tactics, and compensation realities for UK-based FDEs.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Writing Customer-Facing Technical Docs That Actually Get Read and Used
Stop writing documentation that gathers digital dust. A playbook for Forward Deployed Engineers to craft customer-facing technical docs that reduce support tickets and drive adoption using the 4 C's framework.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: A Diary Breakdown
A real, unvarnished diary of an FDE's week: on-site debugging, C-suite trust-building, scrappy code, and the travel cadence. No theory, just the day-to-day.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
Scaling Yourself: When an FDE Hands Off to Core Engineering
Learn the concrete signals, code artifacts, and ontology design rules that transform a Palantir FDE prototype into a scalable core engineering handoff. Real workflows, no hype.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How Palantir-Style FDEs Embed with Customers to Unlock Technical Wins
A concrete playbook for engineers on how Palantir-style Forward Deployed Engineers embed directly inside customer operations to diagnose bottlenecks, ship high-signal prototypes, and secure technical wins that no slide deck ever could.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
On-Site vs Remote FDE Work: Travel Realities and Building Trust in Person
Forward Deployed Engineers face a unique hybrid: not fully remote, not always on-site. A breakdown of travel cadences, per-diem economics, and the trust architecture that dictates when you fly.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Case Study: Deploying an LLM Feature at an Enterprise Customer Without Breaking Prod
A step-by-step FDE case study on shipping a secure, on-premise LLM summarization feature for a Fortune 500 bank. Covers architecture, guardrails, deployment trade-offs, and the career impact of owning high-stakes enterprise delivery.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Weekly Operating Rhythm: A Diary-Based Breakdown of Real Work
A concrete, diary-based breakdown of what a Forward Deployed Engineer actually does in a week—from on-site debugging to pipeline architecture and comp negotiation.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Portfolio: Shipped Artifacts and Decision Logs That Get You Hired
Stop building toy apps. Learn the concrete shipped artifacts, decision logs, and operational narratives that prove Forward Deployed Engineer readiness and actually get you hired.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Interview Loop: Preparing for Signal Over Leetcode Memorization
Stop grinding Leetcode. The Forward Deployed Engineer interview loop tests customer empathy, system design pragmatism, and shipped artifacts. Here's how to prepare for the real signal.
9 min read
345 articles and counting