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# Anthropic launches the Claude Frontier Academy - turns out the models were the easy bit
- URL: https://www.oliphonic.com/anthropic-launches-the-claude-frontier-academy-turns-out-the-models-were-the-easy-bit/
- Published: 2026-10-04T06:43:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-04T06:43:14.000Z
- Author: Oliphonic

*Interesting news quite close to home for me today*: Anthropic has announced the launch of the "Claude Frontier Academy" - committing **$100M** to train **10,000** Frontier Deployed Engineers (FDE) by the end of 2027\. The first cohorts include Accenture, Bain, CapG, Deloitte, McKinsey and more.

Candidates attend an in-person programme built around a simulated enterprise deployment, covering the journey from selecting a use case through security review and handover. Those who pass then undertake a 12-week residency leading a real Claude use case inside their organisation, supported by Anthropic engineers, before a second assessment. [Link.](https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-frontier-academy?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com)

This is not generic “learn to prompt Claude” training. Anthropic is effectively codifying the **forward-deployed engineering** model: technically capable people embedded close to business workflows, able to cross the awkward gap between a powerful model and a production system that changes how work gets done.

Honestly, the news is quite refreshing. I've spent the best part of 6 months this year running Forward Deployed Engineering teams - and the **level of talent** of some of these folks is pretty astounding. I *generally* find the most forward thinking are younger (I do not mean to be age-ist here) - but it's almost as if they have been raised to be "AI-natives". The concept of manually writing code, integrations, APIs seems sort of alien to them - why would anyone do that when a frontier model can do it for them? I've seen these folks move from concept through to **deployed production system** in days / weeks. The pace is orders of magnitude faster than what it used to be.

To be clear, I'm not invalidating or underestimating the importance of genuinely understanding how these technical concepts & techniques work at a low-level - rather I'm saying it feels like they approach the problem differently - leveraging the fact that AI can now 'do' and therefore building **faster** and more **visibly** to the end-user with faster refinement, feedback loops & iteration.

Unsurprisingly, our best interactions with client came when we sat our FDEs side-by-side with the business. We'd go through prototypes, start to discuss what works, what doesn't, potential improvements - and a few minutes later, our FDE had implemented the changes. It is the closest thing to 'real-time' building that I've ever seen - **and it's completely changed the game**. There were a couple of times client nearly fell off their chairs.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9c/fa/9cfabe9c-bcc0-471f-a6fa-271bee166fa4/content/images/2026/10/Jewel-Encrusted-Royal-Resume-Display.png)

So I agree with this approach from Anthropic. **FDEs are the future** \- but they are rare - and certainly some of the brightest & most capable are EXTREMELY rare. It's all very well frontier model companies announcing wave after wave of next-gen model, but if we don't have the capability to embed this technology & **get it working** then it's sort of akin to building more & more powerful cars but having no drivers to drive them.

*I feel like this may well be one of the most competitive courses in history. Getting the 'Claude Frontier Deployed Engineer' title on your CV will probably be akin to encrusting it with 40ct diamonds* \- if you are lucky enough to be selected to be part of it, do reach out and let me know.