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What the hell is a "forward deployed engineer" and "business cultivation engineer"? You mean support and sales?

by Cacti 10y ago

h1srf 10y ago
My guess: forward deployed engineer = implement the system at a client, business cultivation engineer = sales
enraged_camel 10y ago
A forward-deployed engineer is a fancy title for an engineer who is stationed permanently onsite at the client, usually with their own dedicated desk/office. A business cultivation engineer is basically a sales engineer responsible for interfacing with and being a technical resource for the client's technical buying team (e.g. IT department).
- Anderkent 10y ago
  > who is stationed permanently onsite at the client Not really necessary. The distinction between FDEs and product engineers is that the FDE work is focused on a single deployment, whereas a product engineer works on a single product and is once-removed from actual clients. Where the FDE spends time and what products he works on depends on the client requirements.
CydeWeys 10y ago
I was a "Programmer Analyst" at a consulting firm for almost four years, which is the same thing as a "Forward Deployed Engineer". Basically what it means is a consultant who writes software for the client, frequently involving on-site travel and face-to-face interaction with clients to gather requirements and design systems.
p4wnc6 10y ago
It's what happens when libertarian brogrammers who get off on Axis & Allies make a company and spend more time nerding out on what position titles to create than how to have a humanity-affirming company culture.
devonkim 10y ago
The impression I got after talking to Palantir on a number of occasions and talking to different engineers is that a FDE is a cross between a contracted engineer needed for staff augmentation and a software integrator. These are both jobs that are typically bid really low (most system integrators in the DoD space pay pretty poor salaries compared to the vendors of the products that are being integrated) and are not all that different in function from a role like a classic SAP consultant. This approach really doesn't scale very well but given that the customer base really, really does not like to just take off the shelf software and wants to pay boatloads of money to customize software to their specifications, the software product is just a means to reduce friction and to lower the cost of integration compared to, say, building your own huge data pipeline with open source products from the ground up like oh... DCGS-A and its rebranding as ICITE http://nypost.com/2014/10/27/army-spent-5b-on-failed-technology-created-by-vets/ http://nypost.com/2014/10/27/army-spent-5b-on-failed-technol... https://fcw.com/articles/2015/03/03/icite-faces-resistances.aspx https://fcw.com/articles/2015/03/03/icite-faces-resistances....

What the hell is a "forward deployed engineer" and "business cultivation engineer"? You mean support and sales?

by Cacti 10y ago

What the hell is a "forward deployed engineer" and "business cultivation engineer"? You mean support and sales?

h1srf 10y ago

My guess: forward deployed engineer = implement the system at a client, business cultivation engineer = sales

enraged_camel 10y ago

A forward-deployed engineer is a fancy title for an engineer who is stationed permanently onsite at the client, usually with their own dedicated desk/office. A business cultivation engineer is basically a sales engineer responsible for interfacing with and being a technical resource for the client's technical buying team (e.g. IT department).

Anderkent 10y ago
> who is stationed permanently onsite at the client Not really necessary. The distinction between FDEs and product engineers is that the FDE work is focused on a single deployment, whereas a product engineer works on a single product and is once-removed from actual clients. Where the FDE spends time and what products he works on depends on the client requirements.

CydeWeys 10y ago

I was a "Programmer Analyst" at a consulting firm for almost four years, which is the same thing as a "Forward Deployed Engineer". Basically what it means is a consultant who writes software for the client, frequently involving on-site travel and face-to-face interaction with clients to gather requirements and design systems.

p4wnc6 10y ago

It's what happens when libertarian brogrammers who get off on Axis & Allies make a company and spend more time nerding out on what position titles to create than how to have a humanity-affirming company culture.

devonkim 10y ago

The impression I got after talking to Palantir on a number of occasions and talking to different engineers is that a FDE is a cross between a contracted engineer needed for staff augmentation and a software integrator. These are both jobs that are typically bid really low (most system integrators in the DoD space pay pretty poor salaries compared to the vendors of the products that are being integrated) and are not all that different in function from a role like a classic SAP consultant. This approach really doesn't scale very well but given that the customer base really, really does not like to just take off the shelf software and wants to pay boatloads of money to customize software to their specifications, the software product is just a means to reduce friction and to lower the cost of integration compared to, say, building your own huge data pipeline with open source products from the ground up like oh... DCGS-A and its rebranding as ICITE http://nypost.com/2014/10/27/army-spent-5b-on-failed-technology-created-by-vets/ http://nypost.com/2014/10/27/army-spent-5b-on-failed-technol... https://fcw.com/articles/2015/03/03/icite-faces-resistances.aspx https://fcw.com/articles/2015/03/03/icite-faces-resistances....