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Comment by ckastner | Hacker News Reader

> Aided by as many as 120 “forward-deployed engineers”

This term popping up again made me curious. To my surprise, that's not just some overloaded nickname (what's cooler than styling yourself with a military or martial arts term, right?), that's what they are actually called:

https://www.palantir.com/careers/teams/forward-deployed-soft...

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What's the difference between a normal software engineer and a "forward-deployed" software engineer, though? It sounds to me like that's just their military-flavored version of "rockstar developer" or "code ninja".

my understanding is forward deployed engineers set up shop in Palantir's clients' offices and implement the solution using Palantir's tech. Basically doing rollout and front-of-house tech support.

"normal" software engineer - works at Palantir facilities

"forward-deployed" software engineer - works at Palantir's client's facilities

Well... simply put, a forward deployed engineer is on the front lines of totally crushing it

They are professional services. But instead of regular consulting, they are programmers and analysts, etc.

They sound cool and, to me, signal that their work is more meaningful.

they fear the words "consultant" or "contractor" I think

Forward deployment had a much hipper, militaristic sound.

Yup. And FDE is just a consultant, an FDSE is a software engineer attached to a specific client. A regular SE works only on generic products.

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