I Built an AI That Writes My Job Applications - And It's Open Source

As a software engineer, I've applied to dozens of jobs over the years. Each application was the same painful process: hours spent tailoring my resume, crafting cover letters, and prepping for interviews. I knew there had to be a better way.

What if I could just paste a job description and let AI do the rest?

The Problem

Job applications suck. Here's what most engineers go through:

1. 
   Read the JD - Extract requirements, keywords, company culture


2. 
   Tailor resume - Rewrite bullets to match specific role


3. 
   Write cover letter - Explain why you're perfect for this role


4. 
   Research company - Understand their values, recent news


5. 
   Prep for interview - Anticipate questions, prepare answers


6. 
   Follow up - Send thank you emails, handle rejections

This takes 2-4 hours per application. Most people skip steps 2-5 and send generic materials. No wonder rejection rates are so high.

The Solution: Career Architect

I built Career Architect - an AI-powered job application pipeline that automates the entire process. It's designed to work with AI assistants like Claude, GPT-4, or Cursor.

# The workflow is this simple:

git clone https://github.com/henryohanga/career-architect

cd career-architect

make install



# Paste job description to AI assistant

# AI generates everything

python scripts/compile_all.py  # Build PDFs

How It Works

Step 1: Build Your Experience Lake

First, you create a comprehensive source of your professional experience:

source_materials/

├── identity.json          # Contact info, preferences

├── master_experience.md   # All your achievements

├── resumes/               # Historical resume versions

│   ├── 2024-current.md

│   └── 2023-previous.md

└── projects/              # Key project details

    ├── saas-platform.md

    └── api-redesign.md

Tell your AI assistant:

"Read the setup prompt and analyze my resumes to build master_experience.md"

The AI extracts achievements, adds metrics, and structures everything using the "Modern Builder Framework."

Step 2: Apply to Jobs

Just paste the job description to your AI assistant:

"I want to apply for this Senior Engineer role. Use the Career Architect pipeline."

The AI:

• Creates applications/2025-01-07-company-role/
  


• Analyzes gaps between your experience and requirements


• Generates tailored resume, cover letter, and interview prep


• Saves everything as Markdown files

Step 3: Build PDFs

One command generates beautiful PDFs:

python scripts/compile_all.py

# Output: resume.pdf, cover_letter.pdf

The Tech Stack

Core Components:

• 
  Python 3.8+ - CLI tools and automation


• 
  Pandoc - Markdown to PDF/HTML/DOCX conversion


• 
  LaTeX - Professional PDF styling


• 
  AI Prompts - The actual "product" - carefully engineered instructions

Key Scripts:

• 
  build_resume.py - Converts Markdown to formatted PDFs


• 
  compile_all.py - Batch processing with progress tracking


• 
  career.py - Unified CLI interface

The AI Magic: Prompt Engineering

The real innovation is the prompt system. Here's an example of the resume tailoring prompt:

# Role: Career Branding Expert



## Inputs



- source_materials/master_experience.md

- applications/[folder]/job_desc.md

- source_materials/identity.json (for preferences)



## Configuration



Read identity.json -> preferences:



- language: "en" | "de" | "es" | "fr" | "pt"

- resume_style: "modern_builder" | "traditional" | "academic" | "creative"

- tone: "professional" | "conversational" | "formal"



Apply the appropriate style guide from style_guide.md



## Editorial Rules



1. SAR Framework: Situation-Action-Result

2. Metrics Required: Every bullet needs a number

3. Keyword Optimization: Include JD terms naturally

Resume Styles

Modern Builder (Tech Startups):

Modern Builder Capabilities

- Systems Thinking: Architected event-driven architecture processing 50K events/sec

- Technical Taste: Implemented zero-downtime deployments reducing MTTR by 75%

- Ownership: Led incident response restoring service in 12 minutes

Traditional (Enterprise):

Professional Summary

Experienced software engineer with 6+ years building scalable systems...



Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer | TechCorp | 2020-Present

- Led development of React SPA serving 50,000 daily users

- Managed team of 5 engineers improving sprint velocity by 35%

Multi-Language Support

Set your language preference in identity.json:

{

  "preferences": {

    "language": "de",

    "resume_style": "traditional"

  }

}

The system automatically translates section headers and adapts tone:

Extending the System

Adding New Resume Styles

Create a new style in .prompts/style_guide.md:

### Style: `minimalist`



**Best for:** Design-focused roles, creative positions



**Language Patterns:**



- Clean, concise bullets

- Focus on impact over process

- Visual/portfolio emphasis

Custom Prompts

Add specialized prompts for your industry:

.prompts/

├── cybersecurity.md     # Security-specific language

├── fintech.md          # Finance terminology

└── gaming.md           # Game dev focus

Integration Examples

GitHub Actions Workflow:

name: Build Job Application

on: push:

  paths:

    - 'applications/**'



jobs:

  build:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:

      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Build PDFs

        run: python scripts/compile_all.py

      - name: Upload artifacts

        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3

        with:

          name: application-materials

          path: applications/**/*.pdf

Real Results

Users report:

• 
  70% faster application process


• 
  3x more interview callbacks


• 
  Better matches through gap analysis

Before Career Architect:

Time per application: 3-4 hours

Rejection rate: 95%

Effort: High

Personalization: Low

After Career Architect:

Time per application: 30 minutes

Rejection rate: 60%

Effort: Minimal

Personalization: High

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+


• AI assistant (Claude, GPT-4, Cursor)


• Pandoc + LaTeX (for PDF generation)

Quick Start

# Clone and setup

git clone https://github.com/henryohanga/career-architect

cd career-architect

make install



# Configure your profile

# Edit source_materials/identity.json

# Add historical resumes to source_materials/resumes/



# Tell AI to build your experience lake

# "Use Career Architect setup prompt"



# Apply to jobs

# Paste JD to AI: "Use Career Architect for this role"

python scripts/compile_all.py

The Philosophy

AI as a Collaborator: The system treats AI assistants as senior partners, not just tools. Each prompt is carefully designed to leverage AI's strengths while ensuring human judgment guides the process.

Modern Builder Framework: Emphasizes ownership, systems thinking, and measurable impact - the qualities that actually matter for senior engineering roles.

Unopinionated by Design: Supports multiple styles and languages because there's no "one right way" to write a resume.

Challenges & Learnings

Prompt Engineering is Hard

Writing good prompts requires understanding both AI limitations and human psychology. What works for GPT-4 might not work for Claude.

Balancing Automation vs. Personalization

Too much automation feels generic. The key is providing structure while allowing personality to shine through.

Multi-Language Complexity

Supporting multiple languages isn't just translation - it's cultural adaptation of professional norms.

Future Roadmap

• 
  Web Interface - For non-technical users


• 
  ATS Optimization - Better keyword matching


• 
  A/B Testing - Test different resume versions


• 
  Team Features - Managers helping team members


• 
  Integration APIs - Connect with LinkedIn, Indeed

Call to Action

If you're tired of spending hours on job applications, try Career Architect:

1. 
   Star the repo - Show your support


2. 
   Try it out - Test with a sample job description


3. 
   Contribute - Add new styles, languages, or features


4. 
   Share - Help other developers find better jobs

GitHub: https://github.com/henryohanga/career-architect

Product Hunt: [Coming Soon]

Built with ❤️ by a developer, for developers. MIT licensed.

SEO Keywords

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