Become a Forward Deployed Engineer.
8 weeks. Real systems. Your code reviewed every week.
From The Deployed Standard: Forward Deployed Engineers, trained and assessed in production. A fully online programme built on The FDE Standard: the same 9 benchmarks we use to assess engineers for companies. Run by the founders of Flowace, whose Forward Deployed Engineers automate systems across Flowace and Doyen AI every day.
Illustrative. Every student sees their own scorecard fill in, week by week.
25 seats · Applications open
Location is irrelevant.
The programme is fully online, because remote is the great equaliser. We do not look at your city, your college or your country. We look at your work and your hunger.
A reliable internet connection is the one requirement you cannot test your way past. Applications close on 1 November 2026, or earlier if all 25 seats are confirmed.
Selective by design
This is for you if
- You write Python or TypeScript comfortably, and you have built something another person actually used
- You have 1 to 5 years of experience, or you are a student who can pass the practical test
- You can give 15 hours a week for 8 weeks, and attend 2 live sessions a week
- You want to work where artificial intelligence meets a real business
This is not for you if
- You are learning to code for the first time
- You want a job guarantee. We do not give one; anyone who does is selling seats
- You are looking for recorded videos to watch at your own pace
- You cannot commit 10 hours a week at the very least
8 weeks, 9 benchmarks, 1 thing shipped every week
Each week trains 1 benchmark from The FDE Standard and ends with a deliverable scored against its published pass bar.
| Week | Starts | Focus | Benchmark | What you ship |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 Nov | Inside someone else’s codebase | DRS-01 | A merged, tested change in a repository you have never seen |
| 2 | 23 Nov | Integrations that fail in real ways | DRS-02 | An integration with retry, backoff, idempotency and failure handling |
| 3 | 30 Nov | Debugging with incomplete information | DRS-03 | A written root cause analysis of a system that breaks under load |
| 4 | 7 Dec | Evaluation before implementation | DRS-04 | An evaluation harness with a pass threshold, built before the feature. Mid-point review. |
| 5 | 14 Dec | Retrieval that actually retrieves | DRS-05 | Measured gains on a corpus with planted defects |
| 6 | 21 Dec | Agents that hold up | DRS-06 | An agent that holds its success rate across repeated, perturbed runs |
| 28 Dec | Break week. No sessions, no deliverables. | |||
| 7 | 4 Jan | Deployment and security review | DRS-07 | A deployment that survives a hostile security review |
| 8 | 11 Jan | The field | DRS-08 · 09 | Capstone: discovery against a misleading brief, then build, evaluate and present |
Plan for 15 hours a week
Below 10 hours, you will fall behind. We would rather you wait for Cohort 2 than join and struggle.
- 4 h
2 live sessions of 2 hours: 1 on a weekday evening and 1 on a weekend morning, Indian Standard Time. Exact times are confirmed at admission. Sessions are recorded, but attendance counts: discovery exercises only work live.
- 9 h
Building the week’s deliverable on real repositories, unreliable interfaces and degraded data, not toy exercises.
- 2 h
Review: acting on written feedback, and reviewing the work of 1 peer in your group of 5.
You will always know exactly where you stand
- Weekly
Every deliverable is scored Pass or Not yet against that week’s published pass bar. Not yet comes with specific written feedback and 1 resubmission.
- 48 h
Written feedback within 48 hours from our technical head, who reviews every submission. Varun and Tarun supervise every review.
- Week 4
A 1 to 1 mid-point review with an honest verdict: on track, at risk, or not working.
- Week 8
The final assessment is the one companies rely on. Pass all 9 benchmarks and your scorecard carries “Assessed to The FDE Standard v1.0”, and we introduce you to the companies we work with. That is an introduction, not a promise of a job.
We will tell you early, and it will not cost you
We would rather lose a fee than take money from someone the programme is not helping.
What we watch for
- 2 deliverables in a row marked Not yet
- 2 live sessions missed in a row
- A missed deadline without a word
What happens next
- A written note within 48 hours: exactly what is off, and what to do about it
- A 1 to 1 call to agree a plan
- If it is still not working at the mid-point, we say so plainly, and you can stop without paying the second instalment
One price, everywhere
The first instalment confirms your seat. The second is due at the start of week 5, after your mid-point review.
Paid once, when your seat is confirmed. Saves ₹2,000.
Leave within the first 7 days of the cohort and the first instalment is refunded in full.
All prices include GST. Developers outside India pay the same amount by international card.
Our 1 condition: outcomes are published
A programme like this is only worth something if its results are public. So every cohort’s outcomes are published as a matter of course: how many started, finished, passed all 9 benchmarks, and were hired within 90 days, with salary bands. No names. Joining means agreeing to that.
When a graduate is hired, we ask to publish their story by name, for other developers and for the companies who hire them. That part is always your choice, given in writing after you are hired. The first graduates to say yes become the faces of this programme.
From application to seat in about 1 week
Apply
About 5 minutes, every answer multiple choiceTodayScreening result
Shortlisted, under review, or not ready yet, with the reasonThe moment you submitCall from our team
To confirm your details and send the practical testWithin 1 working dayPractical test
60 minutes, online. Pass it and your seat is offeredWithin 3 daysSeat confirmed
On payment of the first instalmentYou appear on the map
If 25 seats are not filled by 1 November, Cohort 1 starts with everyone who qualified, provided there are at least 12. The admission bar never drops to fill seats.
Results, published whether they flatter us or not
| Cohort 1 | Result |
|---|---|
| Applications received | Published when admissions close |
| Admitted after the practical test | Published when admissions close |
| Finished the programme | Published 17 January 2027 |
| Passed all 9 benchmarks | Published 17 January 2027 |
| Hired within 90 days, with salary bands | Published April 2027 |
Reserved for the first Cohort 1 graduate hired into a Forward Deployed Engineer role, with their story in their own words.
Reserved for the second.
We employ the engineers we train you to become
Brothers, and co-founders of Flowace Technologies Private Limited: built in Mumbai since 2018, profitable, and never externally funded. We have hired 9 engineers into this role across Flowace and Doyen AI. 7 do the work every day. 2 did not work out, and in week 1 we will walk you through exactly why.
Code review is led by our technical head, whose name we will announce before the cohort begins, and supervised by both of us.
What do Forward Deployed Engineers earn in India? Market data, sourced, with the caveats that matter.
Salary dataAsked directly, answered directly
What is a Forward Deployed Engineer?
A production software engineer who works inside a customer’s business rather than on a product roadmap. They scope the problem with the customer, build against the customer’s real data and systems, and stay until the workflow runs in production.
Is the programme fully online?
Yes, entirely. Live sessions run in Indian Standard Time on 1 weekday evening and 1 weekend morning. You need a reliable internet connection and a working development machine.
How many hours does it take?
Plan for 15 hours a week for 8 weeks: 4 hours of live sessions, about 9 hours building, and 2 hours of review. Below 10 hours a week, most people fall behind.
Do you guarantee a job?
No. We teach, assess honestly and introduce graduates who pass all 9 benchmarks to the companies we work with. Anyone who guarantees a job is selling seats.
What happens if I fall behind?
We tell you in writing within 48 hours, agree a plan on a call, and give you an honest verdict at the mid-point. If it is not working, you can stop without paying the second instalment.
Can I pay monthly?
Yes. ₹15,000 when your seat is confirmed and ₹15,000 at the start of week 5, or ₹28,000 in full. Prices include GST.
Can I apply from outside India?
Yes. Location plays no part in admission. The price is the same everywhere, and sessions run in Indian Standard Time.
Hiring Forward Deployed Engineers? Meet Cohort 1 graduates, or have us run a search.
For companiesApply for Cohort 1.
About 5 minutes, all multiple choice. You see your screening result the moment you submit, with the honest reason if you are not ready yet.