Stage 1 of 10 · 7 lessons · ~2 weeks
The roles compared
What forward deployed, solutions and sales engineers actually do, when they work in the customer journey, how they are measured, and why demand for the forward deployed role has grown so fast with AI.
Start: What a forward deployed engineer doesLessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order
Do this
- Read ten real postings across the three roles and highlight coding, travel, quota and customer-contact signals.
- Sort each posting into forward deployed, solutions or sales engineering by its responsibilities, not its title.
- Write one paragraph on each role in your own words.
- Talk to one person in your target role about a normal week.
- Do one small real task: interview a user, build a tool for them or demo something to non-engineers.
- Write down which parts gave you energy and which drained you.
Start with
- GuideFreeThe Pragmatic Engineer
Gergely Orosz
Free issues cover how forward deployed and customer-facing engineering roles work at real companies
Keep handy
Also worth your time
Before moving on: A one-page comparison of the three roles in your own words, ten real postings sorted into forward deployed, solutions and sales engineering by their responsibilities, and one small real task completed for a real person.
Read postings, not blog posts, to understand these roles. Ten postings sorted by what they ask you to do will teach you more than any definition, including mine. And try a small version of the work, a real user and a real problem, before you spend months preparing for it.