Updated by Scale AI candidates
Forward Deployed Engineer Interview Experience
The wild part was that they basically put me through the same bar as software engineering, then only later figured out whether I fit FDE.
Interview process
I got in through a referral, and when I went through it the process was long and very SWE-coded. I started with a hard OA, then had a recruiter screen, a non-technical phone screen, and a coding phone screen. After that I did a five-part onsite with credo, coding, system design, debugging a giant repo, and a hiring manager round. I got the offer, and the biggest thing that stood out was that they really seemed to use the same hiring bar for FDE and software engineering, then sort out role fit later.
- Online assessment
- Recruiter screen
- Phone interview
- Technical interview
- Final round
Interview tips
I would prep this like a real software engineering loop, not like a lighter solutions or sales-engineering process. Be ready for hard coding, system design, and especially debugging in a big unfamiliar codebase, because that round can catch people off guard. I would also have strong stories about projects I built end to end, since that seemed to matter early. And I would not assume they already know where to place you, because FDE versus SWE fit can get decided later in the process.
Company culture
The screens seemed to care a lot about whether you had actually built things end to end, and thus ownership is highly valued. Also, the org seems to be moving toward blending forward deploy and applied AI work, so the direction of the role is getting broader around agents.
Questions asked
Overview
The onsite was five separate rounds and felt pretty holistic. I had a credo round, which was basically their version of leadership principles, a coding round, a system design round, a debugging round where they dropped me into a giant repo and asked deep questions, and then a hiring manager round. From my perspective, this was the point where role fit started to matter more.
Question types asked
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