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Maybe AI Didn’t Create a Tool Revolution. Maybe It Created a Role Revolution.
I think we just crossed a weird milestone in tech.
VC firms are now helping create Forward Deployed Engineers.
Read that again.
A few years ago, people were teaching:
→ Software engineering→ Data science→ ML engineering
Now we're seeing something different:
People are building programs specifically around FDEs.
And this gets more interesting...
In the last few weeks:
• Databricks officially built a dedicated FDE organization serving thousands of customers• Companies are shifting from "ship features" to "ship outcomes"• Even investor ecosystems started launching FDE-focused fellowships and training
This feels like a bigger signal than people realize.
Because historically, new engineering roles appeared after a major technology wave matured.
Cloud → Cloud EngineersMobile → Mobile EngineersAI → AI Engineers
But now:
AI might be creating a role focused on deployment, customer context, and solving messy real-world problems.
Maybe the biggest bottleneck in AI was never model intelligence.
Maybe it was the last mile.
Save this thought:
"The future advantage may not be building smarter AI. It may be deploying AI better."
Curious:
If FDE becomes mainstream, what skill suddenly becomes underrated: coding, communication, systems thinking, or customer understanding?
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Maybe AI Didn’t Create a Tool Revolution. Maybe It Created a Role Revolution.
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