Ian Macabulos
Full-Stack Developer
Full-Stack Developer
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Grit is a comprehensive career management platform engineered to automate and optimize the job search process. Built on the highly scalable TALL stack (Tailwind, Alpine.js, Laravel, Livewire), it utilizes lightning-fast Groq AI models to generate tailored cover letters, format messy job descriptions, and conduct interactive mock interviews. The platform is fortified with strict rate limiting, robust caching layers, and a secure serverless Neon PostgreSQL database deployed on Render.
Explore the live application or review the robust backend architecture on GitHub.
The engine evaluates user resumes against specific job descriptions to calculate precise match scores. It then generates step-by-step Action Plans to help users bridge critical skill gaps before applying.
Integrated a custom GroqFormatterService to automatically clean and restructure messy job description inputs into standardized formats. The system then uses this parsed data to generate highly tailored cover letters targeting the exact requirements of the role.
Provides a simulated interview environment utilizing the GroqMockInterviewService. The AI acts as a recruiter, asking highly specific questions based on the user's uploaded CV and the targeted role.
A dynamic, drag-and-drop Kanban board powered natively by Livewire 3. Users can visually track their application lifecycle from the initial submission to final offers without ever reloading the page.
Running multiple AI tasks (parsing PDFs, generating cover letters, and simulating interviews) simultaneously creates massive server strain. The core challenge was preventing frontend timeouts, managing API rate limits from Groq, and ensuring the UI remained perfectly responsive while the backend processed heavy text generation.
Because Grit manages highly sensitive career histories and relies on external API tokens, the infrastructure required enterprise-level protection and caching strategies:
Engineered a robust caching layer to store previous AI analyses and match scores. This drastically reduces redundant API calls to Groq, saving token costs and dropping load times to near zero for returning queries.
Configured strict Laravel API throttling and rate-limiting middleware to protect the server from DDoS attacks and prevent abuse of the expensive AI generation endpoints.
Implemented a custom CSP policy class to strictly define trusted external assets, completely neutralizing Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and injection vulnerabilities.
PDF resumes are encrypted and vaulted via Cloudinary integrations, while relational user data is strictly guarded inside the serverless Neon PostgreSQL database.
Building Grit proved my ability to architect a full-scale AI SaaS platform. Mastering Laravel's job queues, enforcing strict API rate limits, and implementing caching layers taught me exactly how to manage computing costs and maintain high performance in a production environment.