Company loops
Cognition’s deployed engineer take-home: what candidates built with the Devin API
What candidates built for the Cognition take-home, the two Devin API calls you need, and how to scope, guard and present the integration.
The FDE interview blog, page 2
Narrow, sourced articles on forward deployed engineer interviews. Each one links to the guide it belongs to, and every fact in it names its source.
Posts 13 to 24 of 100.
Preparation
Common FDE interview mistakes, round by round, and the fix for each
The FDE interview mistakes employers and former insiders describe, round by round, with a fix you can practice this week for each one.
Pay and offers
Comparing FDE offers: the math for base, equity, bonus and travel
One FDE offer has more base, the other more equity and more travel. A worked comparison: annualized equity, bonus at target, OTE risk and travel as a cost.
Company loops
Databricks AI FDE coding round: preparing for applied data science and machine learning
What Databricks publishes, what one candidate was told about the AI FDE coding round, and a prep plan: a baseline model, leakage checks and trade-offs.
Company loops
Databricks resident solutions architect vs FDE: what the postings show and a candidate’s report
Databricks resident solutions architect vs FDE: what Databricks’ own pages say about each role, one candidate’s conversion report, and how to prepare.
Interview rounds
Decomposition interview mistakes that sink strong engineers, and how to recover mid-round
The mistakes that sink strong engineers in the decomposition round, from designing a platform to silent assumptions, and the line that recovers each.
Interview rounds
Decomposition interviews that come with a dataset: how to start from the columns
When the decomposition round hands you a table, read its grain, keys and timestamps first. A method, a worked fitness-app example and the first query.
The FDE role
Deployment strategist vs forward deployed engineer: the business-side twin of the FDE
Deployment strategist vs forward deployed engineer: how Palantir, Databricks and others split the work, which to apply for, and how the interviews differ.
Interview rounds
Discovery call questions for engineers: what to ask a customer in the first meeting
What to ask a customer in the first meeting, by outcome, users, data, systems and constraints, with follow-ups that turn vague answers into requirements.
What the evidence says
Do FDE interviews have LeetCode? What employers publish and candidates report, company by company
Some FDE loops include LeetCode-style rounds and some have dropped them. What employers publish, what candidates report, and how to split your prep.
Pay and offers
Down-leveled on your FDE offer? What candidates report and how to respond
You interviewed for senior; the FDE offer is one level lower. What candidates report, what leveling changes, and how to ask for the evidence behind it.
Interview rounds
Enterprise system design interview: a worked FDE answer, from constraints to rollback
You prepared to shard a timeline and got asked to deploy inside a customer’s cloud. A worked enterprise design, from constraints to rollback.
Start with a guide
Every post belongs to a longer guide. Each guide covers its topic whole.
- The decomposition interview: how to break down a vague customer problem
- The forward deployed engineer interview, round by round
- The forward deployed engineer resume
- Forward deployed engineer salary: what employers post and file
- Forward deployed engineer vs sales engineer
- Forward deployed engineer vs software engineer
- Forward deployed engineer vs solutions architect
- What is a forward deployed engineer?