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Add cover letters & improve writing guidelines

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- 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>
This commit is contained in:
Russell Ballestrini 2025-12-02 09:43:59 -05:00
parent 01535b292d
commit 50cb9e7f36
4 changed files with 98 additions and 11 deletions
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CLAUDE.md
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@ -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