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 Highest-Leverage FDE Skills in the AI Era: LLMs, RAG, and Agents
Stop chasing every new model release. Master the three highest-leverage skills for Forward Deployed Engineers in 2025: LLM reasoning, RAG architectures, and agentic loops. Concrete workflows, comp implications, and where the real $300K+ AI engineer jobs are.
10 min read
Forward Deployed
The Tools an FDE Ships With: Data Pipelines, Integrations, Demos, and Scaffolding
A concrete playbook of the tools a Forward Deployed Engineer uses to ship data pipelines, customer integrations, live demos, and scaffolding—from Python and React to DuckDB and Terraform.
11 min read
Forward Deployed
How Palantir-Style FDEs Embed with Customers: Rituals, Artifacts, and Trust Building
A concrete playbook for Palantir Foundry forward deployed engineers on embedding with customers: daily stand-ups, technical artifacts, stakeholder mapping, and the trust-building loops that turn pilot projects into multi-million-dollar expansions.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
Metrics an FDE Owns: Time-to-Value, Adoption, Expansion, and Revenue Influence
Forward Deployed Engineers don't just ship code—they ship outcomes. Learn the 4 metrics that define a high-impact FDE: Time-to-Value, Adoption, Expansion, and Revenue Influence. A concrete playbook with formulas, real scenarios, and career implications.
9 min read
Forward Deployed
How to Break Into FDE Roles from a Backend or Frontend Background
Transitioning from backend or frontend engineering to a Forward Deployed Engineer role requires a shift from pure building to customer-facing problem-solving. Here’s the concrete playbook for pivoting your skills, mastering AI tooling, and navigating the compensation landscape without starting over.
8 min read
Forward Deployed
What a Forward Deployed Engineer Actually Does in a Week: Code, Customers, Chaos
A real week in the life of a Forward Deployed Engineer: from debugging a customer's Kubernetes cluster at 2 AM to pitching a product roadmap change by Friday. We break down the code, the chaos, and the comp.
7 min read
Forward Deployed
FDE Compensation Bands and How to Negotiate: Equity, Base, and Sign-On
Real Palantir FDSE NYC salary data, equity structures, and negotiation tactics. Breaks down base, RSUs, sign-on bonuses, and how to maximize your offer without leaving money on the table.
9 min read
AI News
Framework Desktop Packs 192 GB RAM & AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 for Local LLMs
Framework’s new desktop board crams 192 GB of unified memory and an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 into a single tile. For engineers running large local models, this changes the calculus on quantized vs. full-precision inference.
12 min read
AI News
Claude-Thermos: Keep Your Claude Session Alive and Avoid Cold Starts
A deep dive into Claude-Thermos, a utility that prevents Anthropic Claude Code sessions from dying. Learn why cold starts kill engineer flow, how the tool works, and how to deploy it.
9 min read
AI News
Palmier Pro: An Open-Source macOS Video Editor Built from the Ground Up for AI Pipelines
Palmier Pro isn't a Premiere clone. It's a native macOS video editor designed as an API-first node in an AI pipeline. Here's why forward-deployed engineers should care.
11 min read
AI News
Hetzner LLM Inference: What Bare-Metal GPU Pricing Means for Self-Hosters
Hetzner is building an LLM inference service on bare-metal GPU instances. We break down the leaked specs, pricing implications for self-hosters, and how to benchmark it against your current stack.
10 min read
AI News
Context Engineering for Claude 5: Prompting When the Model Actually Reads the Docs
Claude 5 doesn't need hand-holding—it reads documentation natively. Here's how to engineer context for a model that parses your entire codebase, not just your prompt.
11 min read
Build Guides
Build a GitHub PR Review Bot with Gemini 1.5 Flash Logic & Style Checks
Ship an AI code reviewer that comments on logic flaws and style violations on every pull request. Uses Gemini 1.5 Flash free tier, GitHub Actions, and context caching—zero cost to run.
11 min read
Build Guides
Build an Invoice Extractor: Turn PDF Receipts into JSON with Gemini Free Tier
Extract line items, vendor info, and totals from scanned receipts using Google Gemini's free vision tier. Full Python pipeline with PDF-to-image conversion and structured JSON output.
11 min read
Build Guides
Build a Natural Language SQL Analyst Over Postgres Using Groq and Llama 3
Build a free, local AI analyst that turns plain English into SQL, runs it against your Supabase Postgres instance, and explains the results using Llama 3 and Groq.
11 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer vs Solutions Engineer: Key Differences
Forward Deployed Engineer vs Solutions Engineer: a tactical breakdown of scope, coding depth, travel, compensation, and career trajectory for engineers choosing between hands-on product-building and high-touch solution design.
9 min read
Guides
AI Engineer Job Description for Resume: How to Tailor Bullet Points
Stop listing 'LLM fine-tuning' as a generic skill. Learn to reverse-engineer AI engineer job descriptions and craft resume bullets that prove you ship.
9 min read
Guides
Palantir FDE Levels: Career Progression, Compensation & Scope Guide
Deep dive into Palantir FDE levels from new grad to senior leadership. Covers scope, compensation bands, level expectations, and the promo criteria that actually matter.
9 min read
Guides
Solutions Engineer vs Software Engineer: Career Paths and Coding Depth
Compare the Solutions Engineer vs Software Engineer career paths. Learn the distinct daily rhythms, coding depth required, compensation, and how to pivot between them.
8 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer vs DevOps Engineer: Scope, Skills & Daily Work
Forward Deployed Engineer vs DevOps Engineer: a deep dive into scope, daily work, technical stacks, and career trajectories. Learn which engineering archetype fits your skills.
9 min read
Guides
Forward Deployed Engineer Salary in Singapore: 2025 Market Rates & Tiers
A data-driven breakdown of Forward Deployed Engineer salaries in Singapore. Compare base pay, equity, and total comp across startups, Big Tech, and Palantir-style tiers.
9 min read
Guides
AI Engineer Bootcamp with Job Guarantee: How to Evaluate the Promise
A no-BS engineer’s guide to dissecting AI bootcamp job guarantees. Cut through marketing fluff with a concrete evaluation framework, contract deep-dives, and real-world ROI math.
9 min read
Guides
Palantir FDE to SWE: How to Navigate the Internal Transfer
A high-signal guide for Forward Deployed Engineers plotting the move to Palantir Software Engineering. Tactics for timing, skill-gap closure, and managing politics.
10 min read
Guides
Solutions Engineer vs Systems Engineer: Scope, Skills, and Customer Focus
Compare solutions engineer vs systems engineer roles: scope, technical depth, customer interaction, and career paths. Data-driven tables and a practical guide for choosing your next move.
8 min read
1,162 articles and counting