Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE)

One cycle to a hireable FDE role — with an honest floor.

90 days

Overview

Customer-facing engineering: rapid prototyping, integration work, and shipping under ambiguous, changing requirements. Be honest with yourself about the floor here — FDE rewards judgment and communication as much as code, and this cycle alone does not make you senior.

Who it's for

Engineers with a backend foundation who are comfortable with ambiguity and direct customer contact.

Prerequisites

Foundation Rung

Backend / Full-Stack

The load-bearing rung underneath every role on the ladder.

One 90-day cycle to become a competent backend/full-stack engineer: APIs, databases, auth, testing, and shipping a real application end to end. This is the foundation every role rung above it assumes you already have.

90 daysExplore

What proof looks like

From here on, proof means shipped artifacts and verifiable systems — not screenshots or certificates.

At least one end-to-end integration or prototype built against a real (or realistically messy) external system
A written account of a requirement that changed mid-build and how you handled it
Evidence you can explain technical tradeoffs to a non-technical stakeholder

Where this leads next

Advanced Pathway

Advanced / Staff FDE

FDE judgment, backed by AI engineering depth.

The honest version of a senior FDE profile: someone who has both the customer-facing judgment from the FDE rung and the technical depth from AI engineering (or another role rung) to back it up.

Blend of 2 stacked 90-day cyclesExplore

See the full ladder