Careers and entry

Who becomes an FDE, how people actually get in, what the ladder looks like, and what the job pays.

• 2026-10-30How people actually become forward deployed engineersSix capability areas, the evidence that proves each one, and why temperament — not the technology stack — is the scarcest input.4 min read
• 2026-10-30The ladder, and what pay actually tracksFive levels from demo-capable to organisation-affecting, the signal at each transition, and why identically titled roles span roughly tenfold.4 min read
• 2026-10-30What an FDE interview actually testsThree rounds, eleven questions, and the one habit that fails candidates who are technically strong: answering with a technology before naming a metric.5 min read
• 2026-10-30Where the roles are listed, and why the listings misleadLabs, deployment shops and vertical SaaS post under three different names. A map of where FDE roles actually appear, and how to read a listing that never uses the word.3 min read