Google FDE Interview Prep

Google's Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) focus on building and deploying solutions for customer-specific requirements rather than primarily developing features for a central product roadmap. They work within customer environments, integrating Gemini-based applications with existing data systems, coordinating with stakeholders, and meeting security and compliance requirements. This course develops those engineering and customer-facing skills while helping you prepare for Google FDE interviews. I developed this course based on my experience building large-scale systems at Microsoft and Meta and interviewing hundreds of candidates across both companies. The recurring weaknesses I observed went beyond technical knowledge. Even experienced engineers struggled to explain their reasoning through ambiguous problems, justify trade-offs when challenged, or identify requirements that introduced unacceptable risks. My work on Scuba at Meta reinforced that lesson: engineering decisions need evidence that a system meets its stated requirements. The course begins with FDE responsibilities and deliverables, then introduces the Google AI technologies and integration patterns relevant to the role, including the Gemini API, Agent Development Kit (ADK), MCP, A2A, grounding, and BigQuery. You'll learn to design agents with appropriate access controls, measurable performance, and the observability needed to diagnose production failures. You'll then practise the major interview stages, from initial screening and technical discussions to customer-focused and final interviews, using a structured approach for each. You'll apply these skills to three realistic case studies: retail text-to-SQL analytics, customer service agents operating under EU AI regulatory requirements, and document processing for a public-sector agency. By the end, you'll have practised defining customer requirements, designing solutions around real-world constraints, and supporting your technical decisions with evidence.