Changelog Master Feed This new AI role is exploding (Changelog News #169)
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Nov 10, 2025 A new tech role is skyrocketing as Forward Deployed Engineers are in demand to customize AI models for businesses. Corey Quinn critiques AWS, highlighting that younger developers prefer more user-friendly alternatives. Thomas Ptacek advocates for building agents to grasp AI programming better. Meanwhile, Paul Kinlan argues React's dominance has been solidified by AI advancements. Andrew Gallagher warns against relying on LLMs for unit tests, stressing the need for careful manual crafting to avoid brittle outcomes.
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Forward Deployed Engineers Are Rising
- Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) are a new role embedding engineers with customers to tailor AI models to real needs.
- This role focuses on bridging the last mile from general models to scalable, customer-specific solutions.
Younger Devs Reject AWS Pain
- Corey Quinn argues younger developers prefer smoother platforms over AWS's complexity and pain.
- He suggests AWS might become irrelevant to newcomers who favor simpler deployment experiences.
Write An Agent To Learn Agents
- Thomas Ptacek recommends writing an LLM agent yourself to truly understand agentic systems.
- Building one quickly teaches you how agents behave and informs whether to critique or adopt them.