Add cover letters & improve writing guidelines

- Add Webflow Staff Software Engineer, Applied AI cover letter
- Add Coinbase AI Growth Lead (Staff Software Engineer) cover letter
- Add Virta Health Senior Site Reliability Engineer cover letter
- Update CLAUDE.md: NEVER use em-dashes, prefer two sentences
- Update CLAUDE.md: strengthen date checking requirements
- Add senior.software.engineer resume softlink to Makefile
- Remove em-dash from Virta cover letter closing

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

CLAUDE.md

@@ -1,5 +1,35 @@
 # Claude Memory and Instructions
 
+## CRITICAL: ALWAYS CHECK FOR CLAUDE.MD FILES
+
+**BEFORE working on ANY repository, ALWAYS check for CLAUDE.md files in this order:**
+
+### Priority 1: Cross-Repository CLAUDE.md (Global)
+1. **Check for global CLAUDE.md**: Look for `/home/fox/CLAUDE.md` or `~/CLAUDE.md`
+2. **Read & follow global instructions**: These apply across ALL repositories on localhost
+3. **Global instructions are baseline**: These set the foundation for all work
+
+### Priority 2: Repository-Specific CLAUDE.md (Local)
+1. **Check for repo CLAUDE.md**: Use `Read` to check if `./CLAUDE.md` exists in the repository root
+2. **Read & follow repo instructions**: If found, read the entire CLAUDE.md file & follow all instructions
+3. **Repo-specific overrides global**: Repository-specific CLAUDE.md instructions override or extend global guidelines
+4. **Check README too**: Also read README, README.md, or README.rst to understand the project
+
+**Priority hierarchy:**
+- Repository-specific CLAUDE.md (highest priority)
+- Cross-repository CLAUDE.md (medium priority)
+- This file's instructions (baseline for this specific repo)
+
+**Examples of what to look for:**
+- Build & test procedures
+- Commit message formats
+- Code style preferences
+- Special workflows or requirements
+- Project-specific constraints
+- Cross-repo conventions & standards
+
+---
+
 Read README.rst to understand the build system.
 
 you are acting on behalf of russell ballestrini. don't fuck up.
@@ -90,17 +120,21 @@ Git operations can be destructive to uncommitted work. Always preserve user's wo
 - Example: "disrupt wheels & foster open collaboration" not "disrupt wheels and foster open collaboration"
 - This creates a more casual, punchy writing style that matches the brand voice
 
-**Grammar: Don't overuse em-dashes (—) in place of commas**
-- Em-dashes are useful for emphasis or parenthetical thoughts, but overuse makes writing choppy
-- If a sentence has multiple "—" breaks, consider using commas or splitting into separate sentences
-- Example of overuse: "The opportunity to work—learning from experienced operators while contributing—combines technical challenge"
-- Better: "The opportunity to work with experienced operators while contributing combines technical challenge"
-- Use em-dashes sparingly for maximum impact
+**Grammar: NEVER use em-dashes (—)**
+- Do not use em-dashes in any writing (posts, cover letters, documentation)
+- Instead of em-dashes, prefer splitting into two separate sentences
+- Alternative: use commas or periods for sentence breaks
+- Example to avoid: "The opportunity to work—learning from experienced operators while contributing—combines technical challenge"
+- Correct approach: "The opportunity to work with experienced operators while contributing combines technical challenge." Or split into two sentences: "The opportunity to work combines technical challenge. Learning from experienced operators while contributing enhances the experience."
+- This creates clearer, more direct writing
 
 ## DATE HANDLING FOR NEW CONTENT
 
-**ALWAYS check the current date before creating new posts or cover letters**
-- Check the <env> section for "Today's date" at the start of the conversation
-- The date may change during long conversations - use the actual current date
-- File names should match the date metadata (e.g., `2025-11-04-post-name.txt` with `:date: 2025-11-04`)
-- When creating new content, use the correct current date in both the filename and metadata
+**CRITICAL: ALWAYS check the current date BEFORE creating ANY new documents**
+- **MANDATORY**: Check the <env> section for "Today's date" at the start of EVERY conversation
+- **BEFORE creating**: Posts, cover letters, blog entries, or any dated content, verify the current date
+- The date may change during long conversations - ALWAYS use the actual current date from <env>
+- File names MUST match the date metadata (e.g., `2025-11-04-post-name.txt` with `:date: 2025-11-04`)
+- When creating new content, use the correct current date in BOTH the filename AND metadata
+- **NEVER assume** the date - always check <env> first
+- **NEVER use** old dates from previous examples or files

Makefile

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ resume:
 	@cd output/uploads && ln -sf russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf founding.engineer.russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf
 	@cd output/uploads && ln -sf russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf software.developer.russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf
 	@cd output/uploads && ln -sf russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf software.engineer.russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf
+	@cd output/uploads && ln -sf russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf senior.software.engineer.russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf
 	@cd output/uploads && ln -sf russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf staff.software.engineer.russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf
 	@cd output/uploads && ln -sf russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf principal.software.engineer.russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf
 	@cd output/uploads && ln -sf russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf full.stack.engineer.russell.ballestrini.resume.pdf

content/pages/cover-letters/2025-11-30-coinbase-ai-growth-lead-staff-software-engineer-russell-ballestrini.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+**Russell Ballestrini**
+
+russell@unturf.com | 860-333-3047 | https://russell.ballestrini.net
+
+November 30, 2025
+
+**Coinbase**
+
+**Re: AI Growth Lead (Staff Software Engineer)**
+
+To the Coinbase Hiring Team:
+
+Top 4 reasons my experience aligns with driving AI adoption across Coinbase's journey to becoming AI-Native by 2028:
+
+**1. Applied AI & GenAI product development with real customer impact**: At Coursemojo (2022-2025), led development & scaling of an AI assistant teacher for 60,000+ public school students, integrating OpenAI & Anthropic APIs. Designed prompt engineering strategies for student assistance, classroom monitoring, & teacher feedback while ensuring AI safety. Built https://uncloseai.com, running community ML inference at scale for text, voice, TTS, & coding models. This hands-on experience building & deploying GenAI solutions for non-technical users directly translates to Coinbase's AI Growth Pod mission of partnering with Finance, HR, Legal, Operations, Marketing, & Security to identify, prototype, & scale high-impact AI automation.
+
+**2. Internal consulting, technical leadership & driving adoption**: At Remind (2017-2020), led infrastructure for 60+ microservices supporting 30M users, collaborating across product, engineering, & operations teams. Introduced Datadog observability, authored technical documentation, & mentored engineers. Translated complex technical challenges into actionable solutions for non-engineering stakeholders. At Coursemojo, worked closely with educators to understand classroom workflows, identify pain points, & design AI features that fit seamlessly into daily operations. This experience partnering with diverse functions mirrors the AI Growth Lead role of working as an internal AI consultant across Coinbase's business units.
+
+**3. Rapid prototyping, iteration & responsible AI practices**: Bootstrapped multiple production SaaS platforms from scratch (https://makepostsell.com, https://remarkbox.com, https://uncloseai.com, https://unsandbox.com) demonstrating ability to rapidly design, build, & iterate on functional prototypes. Built https://unsandbox.com with containerized isolation & security controls. At Coursemojo, implemented strict AI safety controls for student interactions. Proficient with LLM capabilities, limitations, & architectures (RAG, agents, fine-tuning). Hands-on experience with enterprise LLMs (OpenAI GPT-4, Anthropic Claude), Python, & agent frameworks. This prototyping speed combined with responsible AI mindset ensures I can quickly validate AI use cases while maintaining Coinbase's security, privacy, & ethical standards.
+
+**4. Technical depth with staff-level business impact**: 15+ years software engineering experience with deep Python expertise, full-stack development (Node.js, React, TypeScript), & distributed systems architecture. Built production systems handling millions of requests (Remind: 30M users, Coursemojo: 60K students). Authored "uncloseai. Machine Learning Reference Guide to Inference Clients" covering streaming techniques & API design across 42 languages. Comfortable working at the intersection of technical execution & business strategy, translating business needs into AI solutions. This staff-level technical depth combined with business acumen enables me to design AI agents, custom copilots, & intelligent workflows that solve real operational challenges across Coinbase's diverse functions.
+
+The opportunity to drive AI adoption at Coinbase as you transform into an AI-Native company combines cutting-edge technology with massive organizational impact. I'm excited to bring my applied AI expertise, internal consulting experience, & rapid prototyping capabilities to help Coinbase's teams unlock AI's potential across Finance, HR, Legal, Operations, Marketing, & Security.
+
+Sincerely,
+
+Russell Ballestrini

content/pages/cover-letters/2025-11-30-virta-health-senior-site-reliability-engineer-russell-ballestrini.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+**Russell Ballestrini**
+
+russell@unturf.com | 860-333-3047 | https://russell.ballestrini.net
+
+November 30, 2025
+
+**Virta Health**
+
+**Re: Senior Site Reliability Engineer**
+
+To the Virta Health Hiring Team:
+
+Top 3 reasons my experience aligns with building reliable infrastructure for transforming diabetes care:
+
+**1. SRE at scale with observability expertise**: At Remind (2017-2020), led infrastructure for 60+ microservices supporting 30M users during COVID-19 lockdowns when distance learning demand exploded. Introduced Datadog with EC2 agents for container APM, logs, & custom metrics, building dashboards that exposed performance bottlenecks & enabled proactive incident response. Optimized infrastructure configurations, reduced latency across services handling millions of requests, & monitored performance metrics (throughput, latency, error rates) to ensure SLA compliance. At Coursemojo (2022-2025), introduced Datadog with Fargate sidecar agents for APM, logging, & custom metrics on AI-powered educational services. This hands-on experience implementing observability platforms & building SLO dashboards directly translates to Virta's AI-driven observability projects & incident readiness improvements.
+
+**2. Infrastructure-as-code, automation & reducing operational toil**: Built infrastructure-as-code solutions using Python & CloudFormation/Stacker at Remind, automating provisioning pipelines & deployment processes. Designed CI/CD pipelines at Coursemojo using AWS CloudFormation & GitHub Actions for automated deployments across multiple environments. Contributed to SlashDeploy tool for GitHub deployments via Slack commands, pioneering deployment automation before modern CI/CD platforms. Proficient in Python, Go, & scripting for automation. While my IaC experience is primarily CloudFormation, I understand Terraform concepts & can quickly adapt (both are declarative IaC tools managing cloud resources). This automation mindset & experience shipping high-quality tooling ensures I can build self-healing workflows & reduce toil across Virta's infrastructure.
+
+**3. Compliance, security & scalable system design**: At Cofense (2020-2022), spearheaded SOC2 & FedRAMP compliance initiatives, managing AWS account controls, vulnerability scanning (ECR), & security automation. Built disaster recovery strategies, backup solutions, & access management frameworks ensuring data protection & regulatory compliance. Architected scalable infrastructure using ECS, EC2, RDS, DynamoDB, & S3, ensuring critical services stayed online during unprecedented traffic spikes. At Coursemojo, scaled AI-powered educational tools while maintaining security for 60,000+ public school students. This experience designing scalable, observable systems while meeting strict security & compliance requirements aligns perfectly with Virta's need to move fast while meeting healthcare compliance standards (HIPAA, SOC2) for diabetes care platforms.
+
+The opportunity to build infrastructure that helps reverse type 2 diabetes combines technical challenge with meaningful healthcare impact. Virta's mission resonates strongly. I've spent my career building systems that empower users (educators reaching students, creators selling products, developers accessing ML models). I'm excited to bring my SRE expertise, observability experience, & automation mindset to help Virta transform diabetes care at scale.
+
+Sincerely,
+
+Russell Ballestrini