Katende Jonan

Techpreneur| Tech Investor| Writer|Tech4SDGs @OnDukaApp @JusticeBot2018 Innovation| Eyes looking above and around

[Katende Jonan @katendejonan]

Exciting News! I'm thrilled to have been selected as a WSA (World Summit Awards) Youth Ambassador. I'll be at the forefront of inspiring and mobilizing youths to showcase innovative digital solutions addressing critical global challenges. Unitedforchange #SDGs #WSAYouthAmbassador

[Andrew Ng @AndrewYNg]

One of the new, buzzy jobs in Silicon Valley is the AI Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), an engineer who is embedded within a client organization to help customize solutions, such as building and tuning agentic workflows that suit the client’s particular needs. I’ve heard from people who are wondering anew about the FDE career path since OpenAI and Anthropic started building new teams to place FDEs within client organizations.

The rise of FDEs for AI workloads is one way AI is creating new jobs (and why the jobpolcalypse narrative of upcoming job market collapse is false -- there will be many AI and non-AI jobs). However, I believe there will be far more AI Engineer jobs than FDEs, as I explain below.

The FDE role was pioneered about two decades ago by Palantir, which sent engineers to government locations to work on secure, air-gapped networks. In addition to having good technical skills, FDEs need communication skills and sometimes business skills. For example, they may need to speak with clients to understand their needs, formulate a strategy to prioritize projects, explain complex technology, and respectfully push back if a client asks for something unrealistic. They’re enjoying a resurgence because of the amount of work involved in taking an off-the-shelf LLM and building it into a custom agentic workflow that fits particular business needs.

However, I believe the number of AI Engineer jobs will be far larger. A company might accept a few FDEs to be embedded within its organization. But most companies will want far more of their own employees working on their projects. While my organizations do hire FDEs, we hire far more AI Engineers! Also, a common client concern is that it is hard to find vendor-neutral FDEs — they are, after all, there to deeply integrate a particular vendor’s product into a company. In this moment when it’s hard to predict which AI service will be the best one in a year’s time, optionality (the ability to pick whatever vendor turns out to fit best in the future) is very valuable. In contrast, letting FDEs tightly bind a company’s processes significantly reduces optionality.

Right now, I see surging demand for AI Engineers who can build software applications using AI software components (like LLM prompting, agentic frameworks, evals, etc.) and effectively use AI coding agents (like Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity CLI, and OpenCode). As the AI Engineer role matures, I expect it to fragment into more specialized roles, like the generic Software Engineer role from decades ago fragmented into frontend, backend, mobile, data engineering, devops, and so on.

What will be the future, specialized AI engineering roles? I don’t know. Perhaps there will be AI FDEs, LLMOps Engineers, Evals Engineers, AI Data Engineers, Harness Engineers, and other roles we don’t have names for yet. But for now, I see a lot of AI engineers who are generalists create a lot of value. Skilled AI Engineers are in very high demand! As our field continues to mature over the coming decade, I look forward to new specializations within AI Engineering that create even more job opportunities.

[Original text: The Batch newsletter]

[Katende Jonan @katendejonan]

@spiddafricaltd I nominate @RuthAtim and her organization @gender_uganda.

[Talk Church @churchtalkative]

My goal is to one day hear Jesus say, “Well done, my faithful servant.” | Jeremy Doku

[Hubert Baidoo @HubertBaid80747]

There is beyond the azure blue, a God concealed from human eyes. He tainted the skies with heavenly hues and framed the world with His great might.

This video has made me shed tears. I don't know what is going on, but all I see is highly intelligent people admitting that the source of all wisdom is above... so high that we cannot fathom. When we depend on That which we cannot see, that which we can see becomes very small.

[Katende Jonan @katendejonan]

@sciencegirl The erosion of God

[Katende Jonan @katendejonan]

@samuel_leeds MENTOR

[Gabriel Buule @GabrielBuule]

18 -year -old Mugabi Winner who is also a senior four candidate, urgently needs to go for heart surgery in India, but her family has failed to raise USD 30,000 . Please Retweet until everyone joins this campaign to save her life. To help- 0707370498 Muwonge Ratib (Parent)

[YoungHoon Kim, XRPS @yhbryankimiq]

As the world’s highest IQ record holder, I believe that Jesus Christ is God, the way and the truth and the life.

[Asa (아사) @slugada]

Welcome to #UYIGF2025! This year's theme, "Building Uganda's Digital Governance Together: Youth at the center of Policy and Innovation" is a call to action for youth to participate in shaping how digital spaces are governed - @Jessenathank from @UgandaYIGF

[National ICT Innovation Hub @innovationhubug]

We were honored to host the @ISOCUg Uganda School on Internet Governance (USIG) and the Uganda Youth IGF on April 28–29 at the Innovation Hub as part of the annual Uganda Internet Governance Week, which was themed "Building Uganda's Digital Governance Together."

These sessions brought together young leaders, policy enthusiasts, and digital experts to learn about internet governance and digital rights, discuss Uganda’s role in shaping a safer, more inclusive internet, and build consensus on issues critical to our digital future.

We’re proud to have provided a collaborative space that supports open dialogue and innovation. Special thanks to the Internet Society Uganda Chapter and all participants for making this a success!

[Uganda Youth Internet Governance Forum @UgandaYIGF]

During #UYIGF2025, @AsaLugada, Co-organizer of @pyconuganda, encouraged youth to actively pursue opportunities within Uganda's thriving tech ecosystem especially in areas organised for tech creatives for example at the @AIR_lab_MUK & @InnovationHubUg by @MoICT_Ug at @UICTug. #IGF

[Yunga Tech @YungaTechUg]

Our passion comes not from winning awards, but from our desire to see connected and safer communities where even the vulnerable can have access to security. We desire a world where burglaries are prevented and emergency response comes on time. That’s the future we’re building.

[Yunga Tech @YungaTechUg]

At Yunga, we believe that solving problems and transforming communities doesn’t have to be a lonely journey. Sometimes, it’s even more rewarding to share the joy with like-minded founders. Our CEO @Anatoli411 recently experienced one of those moments. #Togetherness4TheBetter

[Silver Kayondo @SilverKayondo]

Testing testing 1,2....Excited to be working on this project with the team @CTDR_Uganda & @katendejonan

An #AI powered legal ChatBot customised to Ugandan consumer protection law. The law firm of the future will be an app.

#LegalTech #Innovation #SilverLeads #Futurism #Action

[Yunga Tech @YungaTechUg]

Happy Monday😀

[Yunga Tech @YungaTechUg]

As you head into the weekend, we remind you some of our digital features that have made us a household name in over 4,000 households and 57 communities across Africa. These features have prevented over 250 break-ins and offered our customers peace of mind. You too can get secured

[Yunga Tech @YungaTechUg]

Mid-Week Security Check-In
How secure is your home today?
🛑Can you alert neighbors or police in case of an emergency?
🔔 Is there a safe way to know who's at your gate before opening?
💡 Does your current setup give you peace of mind — even when you're away?

Talk to us today.

[Yunga Tech @YungaTechUg]

Enjoy your Good Friday!😀

[Hive Colab @hivecolab]

...No noise. No struggle. Just empty spaces where his valuables once stood. @Anatoli411's home was robbed. Instead of fear, he found purpose, creating @YungaTechUg, an award-winning security innovation
redefining safety...

Learn more: https://t.co/U8GQ0b76ki
#StartupSpotlight