The demand side
You do not apply to great companies. You enter them.
Every top company has a door built for builders: forward deployed, applied AI, developer relations. The resume line waits outside. The artifact walks in. Pick the company, study who actually gets in, build the proof, route it to a human.
01
Pick the door
Not a job title, a door: the role archetype that hires proof over pedigree. It is listed on every page below.
02
Study who gets in
Each company selects on a pattern. Read it. Becoming the pattern beats persuading the recruiter.
03
Build the artifact
One purpose-built project on their platform, deployed, demoable in one link. The spec is on each page.
04
Publish and route it
Post it publicly and tag the team, then get it to a named human: a warm intro beats the portal by an order of magnitude.
05
Apply with proof attached
Now the application is a formality confirming what the team already saw.
The deal for builders
Free until you’re hired.
You pay nothing to join a school. Build on the company’s product, demo at the flagship, fast-track to interviews. If a school places you, you pay a flat fee once you’re earning. No job, no bill.
$0 upfront.
Join a school, build every week, demo at the flagship. Workshops and events stay free.
Get hired through your school.
Top builders fast-track to interviews with the company. Not a guarantee: a funnel built on work they watched you ship.
Then $2,500, flat.
A one-time success fee after you start earning. Not a loan, no interest, and never a percentage of your income.
Flat success fee, agreed in writing before you enroll. If you never get hired through a school, you never pay.
| # | Company | Path | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AnthropicThe frontier lab whose applied team ships Claude into the real world. | ~$180B | Forward Deployed Engineer · Applied AI | How to get in → |
| 2 | OpenAIThe biggest platform surface in AI, hiring builders who make integration effortless. | ~$300B | Forward Deployed / DevEx Engineer | How to get in → |
| 3 | VercelThe company whose customer is the technical founder you already are. | ~$9B | Startups Advocate · DevRel · FDE | How to get in → |
| 4 | ElevenLabsThe voice AI leader with the friendliest door for young builders: a recent-grad FDE track. | ~$11B | Forward Deployed Engineer (incl. recent-grad track) | How to get in → |
| 5 | RampThe fastest-growing fintech, paying $155k to $340k for full-stack AI builders. | ~$32B | Applied AI Engineer | How to get in → |
| 6 | StripeThe internet's money rails, selected on API craft and unreasonably good writing. | ~$91B | Applied AI · Solutions · DevRel | How to get in → |
| 7 | NotionThe workspace platform whose ecosystem rewards builders with community pull. | ~$10B | DevRel · Ecosystem · AI Engineer | How to get in → |
| 8 | Cursor (Anysphere)The AI editor everyone uses, hiring the power users who push it furthest. | ~$10B | Field Engineer · Forward Deployed | How to get in → |
| 9 | DeelThe global payroll giant that hires from anywhere, built for people exactly like remote islanders. | ~$12B | Global-first eng, sales, and ops | How to get in → |
| 10 | NVIDIAThe most valuable company on Earth, and honestly the hardest door on this page. | ~$4.7T | Applied / agentic AI engineering | How to get in → |
Patterns, not promises. Written from public hiring signals and the artifact method, updated as doors open and close.