๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—™๐——๐—˜ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ
๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—™๐——๐—˜๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. ๐—™๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ.
You're 3 weeks into a customer deployment.
The customer suddenly asks for a feature that wasn't in scope.
It's technically possible...
But building it will:
โ€ข Delay the deployment by two weeks.
โ€ข Create technical debt your product team will eventually inherit.
โ€ข Make the customer incredibly happy.
โ€ข Set a precedent they'll expect forever.
You have exactly 1 hour before your meeting with the customer.
๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ.
๐ŸŸข ๐—ข๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—” โ€” Build it.
๐Ÿ”ต ๐—ข๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—• โ€” Push back and explain why.
๐ŸŸฃ ๐—ข๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—– โ€” Find a completely different solution.
๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ'๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜.
There isn't a correct answer.
The best FDEs aren't defined by how much they build.
They're defined by how they make tradeoffs under uncertainty.
So here's the challenge:
๐——๐—ผ๐—ป'๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ.
Tell us what you would actually do.
Reply using this format:
โ‘  ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ (A, B, or C)
โ‘ก ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚'๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ
โ‘ข ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ธ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚'๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด
โ‘ฃ ๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐˜… ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ต๐˜€ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ... ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€?
I'm especially curious about something:
Have you ever made the wrong decision in a similar situation?
Not because you lacked technical skills...
But because you misjudged the people, incentives, or long-term consequences.
Those stories are often more valuable than success stories.
๐Ÿ‘‡ ๐——๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„.
Then read someone else's response and tell them what you would have done differently.
Let's compare decision-making not just outcomes.
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๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—™๐——๐—˜ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ
Forward Deployed Engineers
Build, deploy, and grow as forward deployed engineers solving real-world AI and enterprise problems with impact.
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