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.
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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
Forward Deployed
The FDE Portfolio: Shipped Artifacts and Decision Logs to Get Hired
Forget toy apps. Forward Deployed Engineer portfolios win with shipped artifacts, decision logs, and customer-facing impact. Here's exactly what to build to get hired.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Interview Loop: Preparing for Signal Over Leetcode Memorization
Stop grinding Leetcode. Forward Deployed Engineer interviews test customer empathy, system design under ambiguity, and debugging live systems. Here's the real loop and how to prepare.
8 min read
AI News
Mistral OCR 4.1: Multimodal Grounding for Structured Data Extraction
Mistral OCR 4.1 moves beyond text recognition to grounded structured extraction from multi-modal documents. Here's the engineering breakdown, API usage, and why it matters for data pipelines.
9 min read
AI News
AI Bot User-Agent Spoofing: How Attackers Evade WAFs During Mass Scans
Attackers are spoofing AI crawler user-agents like ClaudeBot to bypass detection during mass vulnerability scans. Here's how it works, why it matters for your defense posture, and what you can do about it today.
9 min read
AI News
Cerebras WSE-3 Hits 4,200 Tokens/s on GPT-5.6: The Inference Wall Is Gone
Cerebras demonstrated 4,200 tokens/sec on OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol UltraFast. Here’s the engineering breakdown of wafer-scale inference, why latency is the new bottleneck, and how FDEs should retool for instant AI.
9 min read
AI News
DeepSeek Harness: Multi-Step Agent Orchestration, Developer Preview
DeepSeek Harness is a developer preview for orchestrating multi-step AI agents. We break down the architecture, the Python SDK, and what it means for Forward Deployed Engineers building reliable agentic workflows.
9 min read
AI News
Gemini 3.7 Flash: Engineering Trade-offs in Sub-100ms Inference at Scale
Google's Gemini 3.7 Flash targets sub-100ms inference. We dissect the architectural trade-offs in latency, throughput, and cost, and show how Forward-Deployed Engineers can exploit this speed for real-time AI features.
9 min read
Build Guides
Build a YouTube-to-Blog Repurposing Agent with Groq Llama 3 and LlamaIndex
Turn any YouTube video into a structured blog post in under 5 minutes. We use Groq's free Llama 3 API, LlamaIndex for chunking, and pure Python to extract transcripts and generate SEO-ready drafts.
11 min read
Guides
The Forward Deployed Engineer Career Path: How to Transition into an FDE Role
A practical guide to the forward deployed engineer path: skills, salaries, interview prep, and how to pivot from software engineering into high-impact FDE roles.
11 min read
Guides
How to Land AI Engineer Jobs in Europe: Visa, Remote & Startup Roles in 2025
Master the European AI job market with this engineer's guide. Covers visa sponsorship paths, salary bands by country, remote work tactics, and startup hiring strategies.
9 min read
Guides
Palantir FDE Interview Questions: Decomposition, Debugging & Demo Prep
Master the Palantir FDE interview with real decomposition and debugging questions. Learn the 30-60-90 answer, demo prep strategy, and what FDEs actually do.
11 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer Internships: Where to Apply and How to Stand Out
A tactical guide to landing Forward Deployed Engineer internships. Covers top companies, required skills, interview prep, and how to build a standout project portfolio.
10 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer in AI: Career Path, Skills, and Salary Outlook
Master the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) role in AI: technical skills, salary bands, interview prep, and how to bridge LLMs with enterprise reality.
9 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer in AI: 2025 Salary & Career Path Guide
Break down the forward deployed engineer AI salary for 2025. See comp bands from $150K to $500K+, required skills, and the exact career path to land these high-impact roles.
10 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer Pros and Cons: Is This Career Right for You?
Explore the real pros and cons of the Forward Deployed Engineer role. High comp and outsized impact vs. travel burnout and context switching—decide if FDE fits.
10 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer Training Program: Skills, Roadmap & Certifications
A no-fluff breakdown of the modern forward deployed engineer training program: the technical stack, AI/LLM skills, and customer engineering muscles you need to build.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
Breaking into FDE Roles from a Backend or Frontend Background: A Practical Guide
Transition from backend or frontend engineering to a Forward Deployed Engineer role. Learn the skill gaps, real project scenarios, interview prep, and compensation realities to pivot successfully.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Toolkit: Shipping with Data Pipelines, Integrations, and Live Demos
An engineer's playbook for the tools a Forward Deployed Engineer ships with: data pipelines, customer integrations, and live demos that close deals in 2025.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
The FDE Portfolio: What to Build to Land a Forward Deployed Engineer Job
Stop building todo apps. Forward Deployed Engineer portfolios need artifacts that prove you can ship in chaos. Learn the 3 projects that demonstrate technical rigor and customer obsession.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
From FDE to Founder: Why Forward Deployed Engineering Is the Ultimate Startup MBA
Forward Deployed Engineers don't just ship code—they live inside the customer's problem. Here's why the FDE skill set (high agency, zero-handoff engineering, and brutal prioritization) maps 1:1 to founder success, including comp realities and a transition playbook.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
Case Study: Deploying an LLM Feature at a Regulated Enterprise with Strict Air-Gap Rules
A real-world walkthrough of deploying a RAG feature inside a SCIF-like air-gapped enterprise. Covers architecture, tooling decisions, security approvals, and the FDE comp upside of high-stakes delivery.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
How AI-Native Startups Use Forward Deployed Engineers to Close and Expand Enterprise Deals
A concrete case study on how YC-backed AI startups deploy FDEs to unblock POCs, build custom integrations, and turn technical firefighting into seven-figure expansion revenue—plus real workflows, comp data, and a tactical FAQ.
9 min read
1,162 articles and counting