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> “A tiny bit of effort to stand out has outsized rewards when applying for a
> job — 10% more effort doesn't increase your chances by 10%, it increases them
> by more like 1000%. ”

Adam Wathan , Creator of Tailwind CSS


LET'S GIVE THAT A TRY HI, I'M RAYMOND

Let me introduce myself and explain why I think I'm the right person for the
job.

Cover letter Show me the effort!

Why I would like to work at Tailwind Labs and what I can bring to the table

This job opening caught my eye because I have been using Tailwind CSS for quite
a while now and have been introducing it at different projects within the
company I work for currently. When I saw it posted on X and read through the job
description, I knew I had to apply.

Two things stood out the most to me. The fact that you working in a small team,
which is something I really enjoy (and unfortunately lost at my current job due
to multiple acquisitions), and the fact that you are obsessed with quality,
which is refreshing. We are often forced to cut corners to meet deadlines and
working in an environment where quality is a priority, even if it means taking a
bit longer, sounds lovely.

I have been following your work closely over the past years and based of
everything I've seen, read and heard on podcasts, I feel like Tailwind Labs is a
place where I can grow as a developer. Self development is a big thing for me
and something I have to look for outside of work currently as I feel like I have
outgrown my current job and I could use a new challenge.

I have no experience with Rust yet and I although I do have React experience, I
haven't used it professionally in the last 4 years or so, but I can confidently
say that I can pick it up quickly. Previous experiences have showed me that. An
example of this is when I was asked to develop a streaming Twitter data
ingestion pipeline in Ruby on Rails, which I had never used before. Or when I
created an Android app for a client, without any mobile development experience
before either. You just have to be curious (and maybe a bit obsessed with being
able to solve the problem at hand) and you can learn anything.

I have been working remotely since 2015 and that has been working really well
for me. I have a dedicated office space in my house and I have a pretty good
routine going on. I am very disciplined, determined and someone you can rely on.
I like to figure out things on my own, but also know when to ask for help. I
have a broad experience with a variety of frameworks and libraries and I created
a Svelte parser a couple of years ago so I'm familiar with ASTs.

Currently I am employed at a company where I am doing a bit too much at the same
time. I am managing a team of developers for the company's flagship product and
contributing to that codebase myself, while at the same time I'm maintaining the
startup I used to work for and they acquired. This means, maintaining about 150+
dedicated servers and its whole infrastructure (we crawl over 2 million articles
a day and a lot of social data). I'm essentially always on call and I'm looking
for something a bit more relaxed, but challenging at the same time.

To show you that I am serious about this job opening, I have recreated three
(well, four including this one) of your Tailwind UI templates to Nuxt. I think
it would be great addition and it helped me get familiar with the designs. I
have also started looking into what it would take to create an WCAG compliant
tooltip and wrote down my findings.

Apart from the interesting lists of exciting upcoming projects, I can see myself
working on Nuxt and SvelteKit versions of the templates, as well as building out
and maintaining versions of Catalyst and HeadlessUI for Vue and Svelte. A
Tailwind animation library would be a fun project to work on as well.

I have a pretty decent and stable job right now (although not too challenging
lately), but I couldn't ignore this opportunity to work on something that I am
passionate about and I hope you give me the opportunity to interview for this
position.

TLDR:

   
 * I like to figure out things on my own, but also know when to ask for help
 * Working remotely since 2015
 * Very disciplined and determined
 * Small teams is where I thrive. I like to have a lot of responsibility
 * Not afraid to do the dirty work
 * Broad experience with a variety of frameworks and libraries
 * I wrote a Svelte parser so I'm familiar with ASTs
   

Continue →

01Showcase


    
 1. Showcase
 2. Work experience
 3. Projects
 4. Testimonials
 5. About me
    


01 SHOWCASE

Effort you said? Effort you get!

To not show up with empty hands, I have converted some Tailwind UI templates to
Nuxt. It was a fun experience! I have quite some years of Vue experience, though
I had never played around with Nuxt before. The most fun part was discovering
the insane amount of details the templates contain. From the animations to the
icons and svg tricks... I learned quite some new things!

I also started looking into what it would take to create an WCAG compliant
tooltip and wrote down my findings.

    


 1. KEYNOTE NUXT
    
    Learnings Live preview


 2. SYNTAX NUXT
    
    Learnings Live preview


 3. POCKET NUXT
    
    Learnings Live preview


 4. TOOLTIP FINDINGS
    
    View
    

> “Being disciplined and curious are two of my greatest traits. They allow me to
> learn on my own in a fast manner and enjoy doing so.”


01 WORK EXPERIENCE

My software development journey so far

These are the companies I've worked for, my roles and what I've learned.


 1. CISION
    
    Remote | 2021 - present
    1. Engineering Manager
    2. Frontend Tech Lead


 2. BRANDWATCH
    
    Remote | 2018 - 2021
    1. Tech Lead
    2. Senior Software Engineer


 3. FREELANCE
    
    Remote | 2015 - 2018
    1. BuzzSumo
    2. Talmundo
    3. Edumundo
    4. TicketSpy
    
    

See more


03 PROJECTS

Some of the side projects I have worked in the past

To feed my own curiosity, I have created a variety of projects, ranging from
parsers to web apps to mobile apps. I learn best by doing and pick up new
technologies quickly. These are some of the projects I have worked on and am
most proud of.

    


 1. SVELTOSIS
    
    A Svelte parser that compiles to Mitosis JSON, allowing you to write Svelte
    components once and compile to every framework.
    
    Details Visit


 2. CCSE - SPANISH NATIONALITY TEST
    
    CCSE is an app which helps users to prepare themselves for the Spanish
    nationality
    
    Details App Store iOS Google Play Android


 3. REGALISTA
    
    An app which allows users to share wishlists with their friends and family.
    
    Details App Store iOS Google Play Android


 4. STACKBEAR
    
    Build embeddable AI powered chatbots based on your own content.
    
    Details Visit


 5. EINBÜRGERUNGSTEST - GERMAN NATIONALITY TEST
    
    An app which helps users prepare themselves for the German nationality test.
    
    Details App Store iOS Google Play Android


 6. OTHER APPS
    
    Some other apps I've created in the past but are not live anymore.
    
    Details
    

> “I like a challenge and am good at figuring out things on my own, but I also
> know when to ask for help”


04TESTIMONIALS


WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT ME

These are some of the things that people I've worked with say about me.

Source: LinkedIn

 * * > Raymond was the first engineer we hired at BuzzSumo and was instrumental
     > in its success. He is a pleasure to work with and a fantastic engineer.
     > 
     > As an early stage startup, we were often moving very quickly, Raymond is
     > highly adaptable and flexible though, able to dive in the deep end and
     > work things out. Initially hired as a frontend specialist, Raymond's role
     > grew to work on a wide range of projects across the technology stack,
     > always delivering high quality work.
     > 
     > I'd highly recommend Raymond as an engineer and all round great person!
     
     
     James Blackwell
     Co-founder of BuzzSumo
   
   * > Raymond was the first software engineer we hired at BuzzSumo (before it
     > was part of Cision). What I love about him is that he has a no-nonsense
     > attitude, and simply gets things down. He was able to pick up various
     > technologies quickly like Ruby on Rails, Angular and Laravel and start
     > contributing from day 1. He’s able to take a vague spec and use his keen
     > judgement to “fill in the blanks”, making him a joy to work with, as we
     > were a very small scrappy team. The one thing you fear in a startup is:
     > whether you need to give clear, concrete instructions and micromanage
     > someone, but we never had that fear with Raymond.
     > 
     > He also has the right temperament to be a team leader and engineering
     > manager. Multiple times, I’ve ranted and complained to him about certain
     > company processes, but he would always listen, try to emphathize and
     > never ever overreact. Raymond has no ego, and does whatever is best for
     > the team, whether it’s cranking out some frontend/backend code, or
     > managing the team.
     
     
     Henley Chiu
     Co-founder of BuzzSumo

 * * > I had the immense pleasure to work with Raymond, after the acquisition of
     > BuzzSumo by Brandwatch.
     > 
     > Raymond is a world class engineer and exceptional human. When I first met
     > him, I was impressed by the breadth / depth of projects he was handling.
     > His engineering skills are very comprehensive (through different stacks
     > from front end to back end), he is always willing to build, fix, learn,
     > collaborate... and get it done, delivering the highest quality code and
     > product.
     > 
     > Raymond is very talented, he is structured, pragmatic, problem solving
     > minded, flexible and a highly reliable engineer (to only name a few of
     > his engineering qualities)...and an amazing person to work with!
     > 
     > I can't but highly recommend Raymond!
     
     
     Hind Moussaoui
     Senior VP of Strategy
   
   * > I worked with Raymond on the engineering team at BuzzSumo. He was an
     > excellent engineer and was always a pleasure work with. Together we would
     > build complete end to end products with frontend and backend. He was able
     > to work with tight backend constraints while developing high quality
     > frontend code. At the same time he was very capable at working with me
     > and other engineers to design the best API solution for maintainability
     > and usability. I highly recommend Raymond for any frontend software team.
     
     
     Matthew Gordon
     Senior Software Engineer

 * * > I had the pleasure of working with Raymond at Brandwatch. He combines the
     > traits of being an excellent hands on engineer with being product and
     > customer focused. Raymond quickly adapts to new technology, and was
     > instrumental in building and modernising the Buzzsumo webapp and UI. I
     > could trust Raymond to get stuff done, regardless of how complex or
     > difficult that "stuff" might be.
     > 
     > Towards the end of my time at Brandwatch, Raymond had started to move
     > into a people leadership role - something he did naturally and with a
     > typically calm and humble approach. I have no doubt Raymond will be a
     > huge asset to any company lucky enough to employ him.
     
     
     Phil Messenger
     VP Engineering
   
   * > I worked with Raymond during my time in Brandwatch and later when he got
     > promoted to engineering manager, I reported directly to him. He is a very
     > capable engineer that quickly solves problems and adapts to various
     > constraints that a project might contain. Raymond also writes
     > high-quality, and easily readable code. As an engineering manager, he
     > projects a humble and sensible approach when dealing with his team and
     > its problems.
     > 
     > I can highly recommend hiring Raymond for any engineering or managerial
     > position as I'm certain he will excel at the given position.
     
     
     Mihailo Mandić
     Senior Software Engineer

 * > Raymond was the first engineer we hired at BuzzSumo and was instrumental in
   > its success. He is a pleasure to work with and a fantastic engineer.
   > 
   > As an early stage startup, we were often moving very quickly, Raymond is
   > highly adaptable and flexible though, able to dive in the deep end and work
   > things out. Initially hired as a frontend specialist, Raymond's role grew
   > to work on a wide range of projects across the technology stack, always
   > delivering high quality work.
   > 
   > I'd highly recommend Raymond as an engineer and all round great person!
   
   
   James Blackwell
   Co-founder of BuzzSumo

 * > Raymond was the first software engineer we hired at BuzzSumo (before it was
   > part of Cision). What I love about him is that he has a no-nonsense
   > attitude, and simply gets things down. He was able to pick up various
   > technologies quickly like Ruby on Rails, Angular and Laravel and start
   > contributing from day 1. He’s able to take a vague spec and use his keen
   > judgement to “fill in the blanks”, making him a joy to work with, as we
   > were a very small scrappy team. The one thing you fear in a startup is:
   > whether you need to give clear, concrete instructions and micromanage
   > someone, but we never had that fear with Raymond.
   > 
   > He also has the right temperament to be a team leader and engineering
   > manager. Multiple times, I’ve ranted and complained to him about certain
   > company processes, but he would always listen, try to emphathize and never
   > ever overreact. Raymond has no ego, and does whatever is best for the team,
   > whether it’s cranking out some frontend/backend code, or managing the team.
   
   
   Henley Chiu
   Co-founder of BuzzSumo

 * > I had the immense pleasure to work with Raymond, after the acquisition of
   > BuzzSumo by Brandwatch.
   > 
   > Raymond is a world class engineer and exceptional human. When I first met
   > him, I was impressed by the breadth / depth of projects he was handling.
   > His engineering skills are very comprehensive (through different stacks
   > from front end to back end), he is always willing to build, fix, learn,
   > collaborate... and get it done, delivering the highest quality code and
   > product.
   > 
   > Raymond is very talented, he is structured, pragmatic, problem solving
   > minded, flexible and a highly reliable engineer (to only name a few of his
   > engineering qualities)...and an amazing person to work with!
   > 
   > I can't but highly recommend Raymond!
   
   
   Hind Moussaoui
   Senior VP of Strategy

 * > I worked with Raymond on the engineering team at BuzzSumo. He was an
   > excellent engineer and was always a pleasure work with. Together we would
   > build complete end to end products with frontend and backend. He was able
   > to work with tight backend constraints while developing high quality
   > frontend code. At the same time he was very capable at working with me and
   > other engineers to design the best API solution for maintainability and
   > usability. I highly recommend Raymond for any frontend software team.
   
   
   Matthew Gordon
   Senior Software Engineer

 * > I had the pleasure of working with Raymond at Brandwatch. He combines the
   > traits of being an excellent hands on engineer with being product and
   > customer focused. Raymond quickly adapts to new technology, and was
   > instrumental in building and modernising the Buzzsumo webapp and UI. I
   > could trust Raymond to get stuff done, regardless of how complex or
   > difficult that "stuff" might be.
   > 
   > Towards the end of my time at Brandwatch, Raymond had started to move into
   > a people leadership role - something he did naturally and with a typically
   > calm and humble approach. I have no doubt Raymond will be a huge asset to
   > any company lucky enough to employ him.
   
   
   Phil Messenger
   VP Engineering

 * > I worked with Raymond during my time in Brandwatch and later when he got
   > promoted to engineering manager, I reported directly to him. He is a very
   > capable engineer that quickly solves problems and adapts to various
   > constraints that a project might contain. Raymond also writes high-quality,
   > and easily readable code. As an engineering manager, he projects a humble
   > and sensible approach when dealing with his team and its problems.
   > 
   > I can highly recommend hiring Raymond for any engineering or managerial
   > position as I'm certain he will excel at the given position.
   
   
   Mihailo Mandić
   Senior Software Engineer


05 ABOUT ME

Raymond Muller Hey there, nice to meet you!

I grew up in a Maasdam, a small town in the Netherlands, where I spent most of
my childhood. I was fortunate enough to have access to a computer at an early
age and it immediately clicked. I still remember playing Prince of Persia on
Windows 95 and creating my first Dragonball Z website on Geocities together with
one of my friends.

Many years later, in 2010, I was studying International Music Management and a
university teacher created a Facebook post asking for someone to create a
website for him. I had kept tinkering with computers over the years and this
seemed fun to me plus and a great way to earn a little bit of money. So we met
and I setup a Wordpress website for him, which grew out to be the most popular
travel deal website in the Netherlands. After the success of that website, he
asked if I knew someone who could create an Android app for him. I had zero
experience at the time, but I was eager to learn and took on the challenge and
managed to build the app, include push notifications for deal alerts and publish
it to the Google Play Store.

After my studies I moved to Spain and decided to focus on programming instead of
trying to find a job in the music industry. I started building mobile apps to
create a portfolio and that landed me my first job at Cognizant, where I worked
on a project for a large Belgium Bank.

A bit over a year later, I decided that I didn't really enjoy working in such a
big company and wanted to try something else. Despite people warning me, I
decided to take the leap and start working as a freelancer to work with more
interesting clients and projects.

Since I started working as a freelancer, I have worked for a variety of other
startups as well, such as Talmundo (acquired by HR Nordic), an employee
onboarding app, where I turned their MVP into a full featured product, and
Edumundo , which is a provider for business simulations, digital textbooks and
student onboarding solutions.

My first client however, was a small startup from the UK, called BuzzSumo. I was
their first engineering hire and wore many hats. I started out as a front-end
developer, but quickly moved to the back-end and grew out to become the lead
developer. They eventually got acquired by Brandwatch and that company
subsequently by Cision, which is where I am currently employed as an Engineering
Manager / Tech lead. I now maintain BuzzSumo, manage a team on their flagship
product, CisionOne, to which I contribute code to.

I am happily married and a father to 2 girls, which keeps me busy most
afternoons / evenings, but I always try to find time to work on side projects
and keep learning. I listen to a variety of podcasts, read blogs and watch
videos to stay up to date with the latest technologies and best practices. I
have started (and finished!) a variety of side projects and take joy from the
ability to create something from scratch and actually see it through.


FIND ME ON

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