Introducing the Forward Engineer Community
Ask five people what a Forward Deployed Engineer is and you’ll get six different answers. And yet: FDEs are “the hottest job in startups“ (a16z). All the major AI labs are hiring them. So are YC companies (some as their first hire). So are companies that didn’t know what an FDE was six months ago.
The problem is that there are so few resources for those looking to become, and to hire, great FDEs. Everyone is talking about FDEs but FDEs aren’t talking to each other.
My goal is to change that.
My name is Arman Jindal. Two years ago, I was hired by an early stage developer tooling startup to be a founding FDE. The JD was all over the place. I was working at the intersection of sales, product and engineering. I learned that in practice, my job was to feel customers’ pain as acutely as possible, even if I needed to step on some toes to do that. As promised there was a lot of ambiguity. But in spite of that (or maybe because of it!), the role just clicked. I loved it.
I became an FDE by accident even though I always considered myself a software engineer. I like talking to people. I like problem-solving. I like following my curiosity. I like owning outcomes. I like selling. Combined, you get forward-engineering work.
I believe there are more people like me. People (like you!) who have both technical and commercial skills, who have been splitting themselves across roles that only wanted half of them. Now there’s a role where they can bring their full selves to work.
Forward-engineering work is a big part of the future of tech — not a fad. For three converging reasons:
Every generation of tools lets engineers own more of the problem. Backend → full-stack → product engineer → FDE.
The bottleneck is shifting from code to clarity. It’s about understanding the system well enough to build the right thing. That’s why FDEs get deployed. Proximity shortens feedback loops.
FDEs close the gap between builders and customers — and when you close that gap, you build better technology.
That’s why I’m creating “The Forward Engineer,” a community and newsletter for FDEs to:
Learn best practices from other FDEs
Meet like-minded people who already are or are looking to become FDEs
Discover the latest and greatest tools FDEs are using
Get hired as an FDE
This is a young craft and I’m on a journey to figure it out. I’m doing this in true forward engineering fashion: building things, talking to people, smashing into reality, and leaning into the feedback loops. I’d love to have you along for the ride.
If you are hiring FDEs, please send me an email: hi@theforwardengineer.com. I would love to connect you to really talented people.