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
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: A Diary-Based Breakdown
A real-world week-in-the-life breakdown for early-career Forward Deployed Engineers. Covers mission rooms, debugging customer infra, building tactical tools, and navigating the salary curve from $150k to $300k.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Forward Deployed Engineer vs Consultant: Operating Model and Ownership Compared
Forward Deployed Engineer vs Consultant: a deep dive into compensation, operating models, and technical ownership. See real scenarios that separate the FDE from the strategy deck.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Deploying LLMs in Air-Gapped Enterprises: An FDE Case Study
A real-world walkthrough of deploying a private LLM feature inside a financial institution with no internet access. Covers architecture, RAG on classified docs, and navigating compliance.
6 min read
Forward Deployed
FDE Compensation Bands and How to Negotiate Your Offer in 2025
Real FDE compensation data for 2025: base salary, equity, and bonus bands from startups to FAANG. Tactical negotiation scripts and leverage points for forward deployed engineers.
8 min read
AI News
H3-metal: Native MiniMax-H3 Inference on Apple Silicon GPUs
antirez's H3-metal ports MiniMax-H3 natively to Apple Silicon via Metal. We break down the architecture, performance, and how engineers can run frontier AI locally.
10 min read
AI News
GPU Passthrough on macOS VMs: Fast llama.cpp Inference on Apple Silicon
Cua's macOS VM now passes the Apple Silicon GPU directly to llama.cpp, unlocking near-native LLM inference speeds inside a sandbox. Here's the architecture, benchmarks, and how to try it.
10 min read
AI News
WorldClaw: How Agentic Pipelines Generate Infinite 3D Open Worlds at Scale
Tencent's WorldClaw uses an agentic feedback loop to generate coherent, high-quality 3D worlds from text prompts. Here's the engineering breakdown and why it matters for FDEs building generative pipelines.
10 min read
AI News
Grok 4.6: What the 61-Point Intelligence Index Score Means for Engineers
Grok 4.6 hits 61 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. We break down the benchmark, what it means for real-world engineering workflows, and how to start using it today.
7 min read
AI News
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813: The Engineering Reality Behind the Benchmarks
A no-fluff teardown of DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813. We cut through the hype to analyze the silent architecture upgrades, practical tokenomics, and why this matters for production pipelines.
8 min read
Build Guides
Build a Codebase Q&A Bot with Gemini RAG and LlamaIndex for Free
Ingest a local repo, index it with LlamaIndex and ChromaDB, and ask natural-language questions using Google Gemini's free tier. Full CLI build guide with code, pitfalls, and extensions.
10 min read
Build Guides
Build a Cold-Outreach Personalizer with Groq + Cloudflare Workers
Deploy a free-tier endpoint that reads a CSV of prospects, scrapes their LinkedIn or website via Playwright, and auto-generates personalized one-liners using Groq's LLM — all on the edge.
11 min read
Build Guides
Build a Daily Standup Bot: Collect Updates via DM, Summarize with Groq, Post to Slack
A hands-on guide to building a free-tier daily standup bot using n8n, Groq (Mixtral), and Slack. Collect async updates via DM, summarize them with an LLM, and post a coherent summary to your team channel every morning.
10 min read
Guides
How to Start a Freelance AI Engineer Career: Find Jobs & Build Clients
A practical engineer's guide to launching a freelance AI career. Learn where to find high-paying remote jobs, how to price your services, and the exact tech stack to master.
9 min read
Guides
Is AI Engineering in Demand? 2025 Job Growth, Market Trends & Future Outlook
Hard data on why AI engineering demand is skyrocketing: 74% job growth, $200K+ median salaries, and the skills that separate hype from high-paying roles.
9 min read
Guides
What Is an AI Engineer? Job Scope, Responsibilities & Daily Work
A no-fluff breakdown of the AI engineer job description: what you actually build, core responsibilities, daily workflows, salary data, and how this role differs from software engineering.
13 min read
Guides
How to Become an AI Engineer Without a Degree: A Practical Career Path
A zero-fluff, engineer-to-engineer guide on landing AI engineer jobs with no degree. Learn the exact skills, portfolio projects, and job-hunting tactics to break into AI without a CS diploma.
14 min read
Guides
Forward Deployment Meaning in Tech: The Customer-Embedded Model Explained
Forward deployment meaning in tech goes beyond military logistics. Learn how embedded engineers bridge the gap between product and reality, driving adoption under fire.
9 min read
Guides
How to Plane End Grain: An Engineering Approach to Clean, Tear‑Free Cuts
Apply first-principles physics to the woodshop. Learn how to plane end grain without splitting or tear-out, covering blade geometry, cutting angles, and jigs.
10 min read
Guides
AI Engineer Remote Jobs Worldwide: How to Land Global Roles in 2026
A practical guide to finding and securing AI engineer remote jobs worldwide. Covers salary data, skill stacks, hidden job markets, and tax strategies for global engineers.
9 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer & Kubernetes: Why It’s a Core Skill
Kubernetes isn't just for SREs. Discover why forward deployed engineers must master K8s to debug customer environments, ship prototypes on-prem, and bridge the gap between cloud-native dev and messy reality.
9 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Software Engineer OpenAI Salary & Compensation 2025
Real data on OpenAI Forward Deployed Software Engineer salary, equity, and total comp. Covers levels, negotiation, and how to crack the $500K+ bar.
10 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer Technical Skills: The Core Competency List
Master the forward deployed engineer technical skills that separate elite FDEs from the pack. A deep dive into the technical stack, debugging mindset, and prototyping speed required.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
On-Site vs Remote FDE Work: Travel Realities, Cadences, and Where the Role Is Heading
Forward Deployed Engineers face a unique tension between 50%+ travel and remote flexibility. This guide breaks down real on-site vs remote cadences, travel compensation, tax pitfalls, and why hybrid models are winning.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
Writing Customer-Facing Technical Docs That Stakeholders Actually Read
Stop writing documentation that collects digital dust. A practical engineer's guide to structuring, scoping, and delivering customer-facing technical content that executives, product, and end-users actually consume and act on.
9 min read
1,162 articles and counting