Forward Deployed Engineering, from someone who is also the client
Almost everyone writing about this role is either the engineer or the business owner. Marc Herdes is both. He has run companies in the Netherlands since 1999, owns five of them, and builds the software, integrations and agents that run inside them. What follows is written from that seat.
Written by Marc Herdes · Almere, the Netherlands ·
These pages exist for one reason. Most writing about Forward Deployed Engineering comes from consultancies selling the service or from engineers describing a job they hold. Neither has to live with the result on Monday morning. Marc does: whatever gets built runs the next day in one of his own companies, and when it does not work, it is his problem and nobody else’s.
Why is this site mostly in Dutch?
Because most of the work is: sitting at a table with an owner, walking a floor, watching where a process breaks. That does not travel well. What does travel is the role itself, the mistakes that come with it, and two cases where something measurable changed. Those are the pages you will find here.
What is worth reading first?
If you are wondering what the job really involves, start with the day. If you are considering the role, read the one about certification — it is short, and the answer is no. If you run a company and are wondering whether to build something at all, start at the end of the list.
Does this sound familiar?
Two sentences is enough. You get an honest answer: what I would build, what I would leave alone, and whether it belongs with me or with someone else.
The skillsWhat nobody puts in the adWhich items on the list are overrated, and what is decisive.
TrainingThere is no certificationThe honest answer, and what to do instead.
CaseFifteen times a day off the ladderThe work was not automated away. It moved.
CaseFrom two hours to eight minutesAnd why the number is not the point.
The honest noWhen you should not build anythingAsk a model whether you need AI and it says yes. Here is when it should not.
HiringWhat to screen forYour advertisement tests knowledge. The work tests behaviour.
The questionsReal answers next to rehearsed onesUseful from either chair.
The nameNew job, or new label?What is genuinely new, and what is decades old.
Tell me where it breaks
Two sentences is enough. You get an honest answer: what I would build, what I would leave alone, and whether it belongs with me or with someone else.
Does this sound familiar?
Two sentences is enough. You get an honest answer: what I would build, what I would leave alone, and whether it belongs with me or with someone else.