What is the Awesome FDE Roadmap?

Awesome FDE Roadmap is an open-source MIT-licensed curriculum by Pier Paolo Ippolito covering data, cloud, field discovery, and applied AI skills for Forward Deployed Engineers. FDE Hub hosts an interactive, multi-cloud version with a 30/90-day transition plan.

What should I learn first on the FDE roadmap?

Start with data foundations and cloud landing-zone patterns, then field discovery skills, then applied AI (RAG, agents, evals). If you are transferring from SWE or Solutions Engineering, pair the map with the readiness assessment and how-to-become guide.

How long does the FDE curriculum take?

A focused transition is realistic in 30–90 days if you already write production code. The roadmap includes a time-boxed 30-day sprint and a 90-day path for building portfolio case studies and interview readiness.

Is there a certification for Forward Deployed Engineers?

There is no standard industry certification. Hiring loops test production engineering, customer judgment, and deployment case studies instead. Use this roadmap plus company interview guides to prepare.

Learn · Curriculum

Awesome FDE Roadmap

Interactive Forward Deployed Engineer curriculum — adapted from Awesome FDE Roadmap — for the Delta role: ship under customer constraints across data, platform, field judgment, and production AI. Click a node to expand outcomes and sources.

“You can think of a Dev’s focus as “one capability, many customers,” while a Delta’s focus is “one customer, many capabilities.””
Palantir — Dev versus Delta

Curriculum adapted with attribution from Awesome FDE Roadmap (MIT), and Anthropic agent evals.

Skills map

Four tracks. Cloud examples stay vendor-neutral — treat GCP/AWS/Azure as interchangeable landing-zone patterns.

Tap a node to expand outcomes and resources below it.

1. Foundation

Data engineering — the bedrock

Foundation · node
SQL for messy reality
Window functions, recursive CTEs, EXPLAIN literacy — enough to audit a 20-year-old schema under time pressure.
Outcomes
- Profile a legacy warehouse and name the top 3 data risks
- Rewrite a slow join with a measurable cost drop
Resources
- Select Star SQL ↗
- DDIA (Kleppmann) ↗

2. Platform

Cloud landing zones & secure deploy

3. Field

Consulting mindset — the Forward in FDE

4. Applied AI

RAG, agents, evals in the enterprise

30 / 90-day transition plan

Time-boxed path if you are transferring from SWE, Solutions, or consulting. Pair with How to become an FDE and the readiness check and the Business-to-AI Translation Matrix.

First 30 days

01
Map the Delta
Write three customer-constraint stories from your past work. Read Palantir Dev vs Delta once, carefully.
02
Close one hard gap
If SWE-heavy: practice discovery + scoping writeups. If SE-heavy: ship a production integration with tests and a runbook.
03
Interview primitives
One decomp case / week + one enterprise system-design sketch (SSO, data, deploy path).

Days 31–90

01
Portfolio that proves field judgment
One public or shareable artifact: Site Survey + MVA + eval notes for a realistic enterprise AI scenario.
02
Company targeting
Pick 2–3 employers; study their loops (Palantir decomp, lab applied rounds) and travel/clearance realities.
03
Network with signal
Talk to practicing FDEs; ask about KPI model and Day-2 ownership — not just TC screenshots.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Awesome FDE Roadmap?: Awesome FDE Roadmap is an open-source MIT-licensed curriculum by Pier Paolo Ippolito covering data, cloud, field discovery, and applied AI skills for Forward Deployed Engineers. FDE Hub hosts an interactive, multi-cloud version with a 30/90-day transition plan.
What should I learn first on the FDE roadmap?: Start with data foundations and cloud landing-zone patterns, then field discovery skills, then applied AI (RAG, agents, evals). If you are transferring from SWE or Solutions Engineering, pair the map with the readiness assessment and how-to-become guide.
How long does the FDE curriculum take?: A focused transition is realistic in 30–90 days if you already write production code. The roadmap includes a time-boxed 30-day sprint and a 90-day path for building portfolio case studies and interview readiness.
Is there a certification for Forward Deployed Engineers?: There is no standard industry certification. Hiring loops test production engineering, customer judgment, and deployment case studies instead. Use this roadmap plus company interview guides to prepare.

Structure and many resource pointers are adapted from pierpaolo28/Awesome-FDE-Roadmap under the MIT License. Rewritten for multi-cloud neutrality and linked into fdehub.dev guides. © Pier Paolo Ippolito / contributors.