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
Case Study: Deploying an LLM Feature Behind a Fortune 500 Firewall in 2 Weeks
A real playbook for shipping an on-premises LLM feature when the customer says 'no external APIs.' Covers air-gapped Kubernetes, model selection, and the FDE comp reality.
6 min read
Forward Deployed
The Palantir-Style FDE Embed: How to Operate Inside a Customer's Security Perimeter
A concrete playbook for engineers on embedding inside a customer's air-gapped network. Covers physical logistics, secure toolchains, offline-first architecture, and the comp/career reality of the Palantir-style Forward Deployed Engineer.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: Beyond the Job Description
Forget the sanitized JD. Here is the raw, unvarnished reality of an FDE's week: fighting VPNs, mutating code in hospital basements, and the high-stakes balance of comp vs. burnout. Real workflows only.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
The Palantir-Style FDE Embed: How to Become Indispensable in 30 Days
A concrete playbook for the first 30 days of a forward-deployed engineer embed. Move from outsider to indispensable operator by building trust, shipping technical wins, and scaling solutions before the customer even asks.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
On-Site vs Remote FDE Work: Travel Realities, Per Diems, and Client Expectations
A concrete engineer-to-engineer breakdown of on-site versus remote FDE work. Covers travel frequency, per-diem economics, client trust dynamics, and the career impact of your location choice.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Interview Loop: Concrete Prep Scenarios for Builders Who Ship
Master the FDE interview with this no-fluff guide: real-world debugging scenarios, system design under customer constraints, and the 'builder's mindset' that top-tier firms test for.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Portfolio: 5 High-Velocity Prototypes That Prove You Ship in Chaos
Forget toy apps. Forward Deployed Engineers prove value by shipping in chaotic enterprise environments. Here are 5 concrete, high-velocity prototypes that demonstrate the builder-seller DNA required for a $250K+ role.
6 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Portfolio: 5 High-Velocity Prototypes That Prove You Can Ship in Chaos
Stop building to-do apps. Real Forward Deployed Engineer portfolios need prototypes that handle dirty data, latency constraints, and ambiguous user intent. Ship these 5 projects.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Interview Loop: Concrete Prep Scenarios for Builders Who Ship
Master the Northslope FDE interview process with a tactical breakdown of the systems design, coding, and deployment scenarios used to test builders who ship in chaos. Includes comp data and a concrete prep plan.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How FDEs Work with Product and Engineering After the Sale Closes
The real FDE playbook starts post-signature. A tactical guide to navigating product gaps, managing engineering bandwidth, and scaling zero-to-one customer workflows without burning internal teams.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Writing Customer-Facing Technical Docs That Actually Get Read by Users
Stop writing documentation that sits unread. Learn the FDE playbook for creating customer-facing technical docs that reduce support tickets, accelerate onboarding, and directly impact retention.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
From Customer Handoff to Working Prototype: The FDE's First Week Sprint
A concrete engineer-to-engineer playbook for the first 5 days of a Forward Deployed Engineer engagement. From scoping the handshake to shipping a working prototype, learn the tactical workflow, decision points, and tools that separate high-signal FDEs from the noise.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
A Week in the Life of a Forward Deployed Engineer: The Shipping Cadence
What does a forward deployed engineer do weekly? A concrete walkthrough of the Monday-to-Friday sprint: customer standups, rapid prototyping, on-site debugging, and shipping code that closes deals.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Case Study: Deploying an LLM Feature at a Regulated Enterprise Customer
A step-by-step FDE playbook for shipping a private LLM summarization feature inside a bank. Covers air-gapped deployment, policy-as-code guardrails, and the messy reality of enterprise compliance.
6 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Portfolio: 5 Projects That Get You Hired, Not Just Side Projects
Stop building toy apps. Forward deployed engineer portfolio projects must prove you can ship in messy enterprise environments. Here are 5 concrete builds that signal FDE readiness.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Interview Loop: How to Prepare as a Builder, Not a Talker
FDE interviews test shipping, not storytelling. Learn the 5-stage loop, technical demo expectations, and the 30-60-90 rule to prove you can deploy under customer constraints.
12 min read
Forward Deployed
The Highest-Leverage FDE Skills in the AI Era: Prompting, Data Prep, and Rapid Modeling
Stop memorizing architectures. The highest-leverage FDE skills in the AI era are ruthless data preparation, adversarial prompting, and shipping a working model before the meeting ends.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: The Customer Shipping Cadence
A concrete breakdown of the FDE weekly rhythm: from Monday customer standups and midweek prototype builds to Friday production deploys. Real workflows, tooling, and comp context.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Debugging Without Access: FDE Tactics for Customer-Facing Engineers
Master the art of remote debugging when you can't touch the keyboard. Concrete tactics for Forward Deployed Engineers facing black-box customer environments, from proxy replays to sidecar sniffers.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: The Daily Rhythm
A no-fluff, minute-by-minute breakdown of a forward deployed engineer's workday. From war-room debugging to enterprise code reviews, learn the actual rhythm of customer shipping.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
The Highest-Leverage FDE Skills in the AI Era: Prompting, Data, and Modeling
AI engineer job responsibilities are shifting from pure model-building to high-leverage system design. Here’s how Forward Deployed Engineers use prompting, data engineering, and fine-tuning to ship revenue-impacting features in days, not months.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
The Palantir FDE Playbook: Embedding with Customers to Unlock Operational Value
A concrete playbook for engineers on the Palantir-style FDE model. Learn the real workflows, technical architecture, and career context behind embedding with customers to ship operational value fast.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Case Study: Deploying an LLM Feature at an Enterprise Customer in 5 Days
A real-world engineering breakdown of shipping a RAG-powered contract analyzer inside a Fortune 500 firewall. Architecture, tooling, security, and the FDE skills that compress enterprise deployment from months to days.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
What an FDE Actually Does in a Week: The Daily Rhythm of Customer Shipping
A concrete walkthrough of a Forward Deployed Engineer's weekly cycle: from triaging customer pain on Monday to shipping a working prototype by Friday. Real workflows, comp, and tools.
8 min read
345 articles and counting