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Jessica Bell
Jessica Bell

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I'm a developer for The Washington Post, ask me anything!

Hi! I am a developer at The Washington Post. My team builds tools for the newsroom so that journalists can make articles with rich, engaging content. I work primarily on the front end on JavaScript projects. Originally not a techie, I hold a degree in International Relations and taught myself to code after not finding good work in that field. The journey from relative low technical literacy to full time working developer has been... well, hard and interesting. I have some opinions about it all.

I am an active community organizer including sitting as the current Chair for the DC chapter of ACM, helping organize for DC Tech Meetup, DCFemTech, and producing a podcast called DC Tech Stories - check it out!

Currently I am struggling with burn out, how to level up my coding skills without giving my whole life over to side projects, why as a society, we have such a low level of technical literacy, and how to feel like a competent developer while working in imperfect legacy code. I am excited about the future of news media and technology, my upcoming vacation, and fun web storytelling in general.

Ask me anything!

Latest comments (95)

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eaglerockdude profile image
ken mcfadden

The Washington Post article today on the "Afghanistan Papers"...how the box of text rolls over the pictures when the first opened...I have never seen that(I am a relative newbie to JS)..but is that javascript, and if so what technology....thanks.

washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/i...

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azeem115 profile image
Azeem Abbas

Greetings Jess!

You talked about different teams handling different tasks like a team for native, a team for the website, an analytics team etc. How many members does one team particularly have? Do they all use the same JS framework or different tools? And I am curious to know more about the internal CMS Washington Post uses.

Thank You.

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

Varies from team to team - I am on a small team (4 devs, 2-3 pms, 1 design, 1 manager) but some teams are much bigger. Each team can set their technology stack so there is some variance between teams. The internal CMS platform is actually much more than that - there are MANY tools that go into making WaPo.com from an editorial workflow tool, paywall, analytics, various embeds and plug ins ect. That is kinda our secret sauce that sets us a part as both a journalistic leader AND a tech forward company!

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

ha ha - I am actually surprised I didn't get any fake news comments! I got two on twitter but seems people here are a little nicer lol

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esebsm8gvy38gt6 profile image
eSeBsm8GVy38gT6

How do you think people will monetize their free web apps, sites and blogs once Adblock becomes ubiquitous (its on its way there)?

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

Probably depends on where their actual revenue stream is coming from - ads? selling data? ect... hard to tell!

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rwschmitz profile image
Rudolph Schmitz

Hi. I've been applying for jobs recently on the search for my 1st web development job. I have a B.S. in electrical engineering and 3.5 years programming Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) in a factory automation setting. QUESTION: Do you have any good advice for interviewing? So far I've heard "by yourself and if you don't know the answer to a question, be open and honest. Also, show that you're passionate and interested in the job." -- Besides that advice, do you have any other advice? I really want to work in this industry badly and I've been lucky enough to have a couple of interviews so far.

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

NETWORK. All my tech jobs I got through contacts. Second - present your information in a simple clear way - contextualize your side projects or code samples, list clearly your set of skills and state what you are learning/trying to get experience in. Simplicity and easy of scanning is important :) . Good luck!! Grit through that terrible job hunting time - it SUX but there is no good answer other than grit through!

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rwschmitz profile image
Rudolph Schmitz

Awesome. Great answer! Really appreciate the timely and thorough response. Congrats on working for The Washington Post, by the way!

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

Thanks! It's quite fun here :) Good luck with your hunt!

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tsullivanphoto profile image
Theresa • Edited

Your answers have been super interesting to read! I'm a fan of the WaPo and I guess it never occurred to me that they'd be a great employer too. Sounds like they are though! Any chance you're hiring remotely? ;)

I just have to ask since you put it out there and no one has asked yet - where are you going on your upcoming vacation and what are you most excited about seeing/doing/eating while you're there?

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

Aw I am glad you are enjoying them! Yah WaPo is great! Check out careers.washpost.com for opening and tweet @washpostlife :)

I am going to Japan!!!!! I am going to eat so much ramen it's not even funny. Looking forward to our stay at the traditional royken in the mountains!!

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tsullivanphoto profile image
Theresa

I will definitely check out the careers page, but OMG your trip sounds amazing! If you haven't watched Mind of a Chef (season 1 with David Chang), do so before you leave. I have never wanted to eat ramen so badly in my life until I watched that show!

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

Sounds good! I have been watching Midnight Cafe which is AWESOME... so pumped for it!!

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mason_james2 profile image
James

Jessica,

Thanks for doing this AMA.

At my office, we are currently going through a period of growth, and are looking at our organizational structure & culture, and trying to make sure we are set up for success. There is a debate as to whether our developers should rotate through different projects, and get a wide range of experience on the different things our office works on, or should the developers stay on one project. I'm curious how it's handled at WaPo: do developers rotate through different teams, or do people generally stay on one team for long periods (i.e. multiple years)? Does it seem to be working for you, or do you think there's a better way?

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

People do change teams here but TBH we are too large I am not sure that would work. I like that idea in theory, keeps your documentation up to date, and your code clean and readable OR if standards aren't followed you could have angry devs and messy ass code... kinda depends on if you leave your devs time to ramp up, clean code, and enforce standards, or if you are highly deadline driving and are going to force devs to work as a faster pace to get up and running, learn the environment, and standards ignored b/c of a deadline - i suggest being honest with yourself about the business culture :)

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elijahcorleone profile image
£.j

How are you able yo know if the job is helping you grow and not justusing you up

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

ohh that is a good question... I think if you like the work awesome! If you don't - are the skills transferable or are there other positions at work. Are you working on tech that other's use vs. hella old platforms everyone has abandoned but your employer refuses to?

this one makes me think!

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tal_rach profile image
Rachel Tal

How long have you been working for the Washington Post? Can you tell me about some of your other experiences as a Developer?

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

Been with the Post since Jan of this year. Before I worked for as a consultant and at an agency - anything specific (code, working environment ect?)

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darjun0812 profile image
darjun0812

Hi Jessica!

You mentioned that you're excited about the future of news media and technology, I am too! What do you imagine as the next big tech innovation in relation to media (or what would you like to see)?

On another note, how do you feel about the growing popularity of crowd sourced news via things like Twitter or Instagram?

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

next big innovation hmm... since I am focused on newsroom tools I actually thing there are a lot of opportunities there to use tech to help journalists create SUPER engaging pieces - things like our context project(washingtonpost.com/pr/wp/2017/09/1...) allow journalists to provide context to people who are new to a particular topic to understand more fully the news and those who already know this topic to ignore it - that can help a lot with big complex issues with LOTS of players and inputs.

I like the fact that news is crowdsourced in that it gives journalists access to MANY more sources and inputs but I worry about people forgetting the importance of WELL RESEARCHED articles by journalists who take bias, and ethics very seriously. Its a good input but not a replacement by ANY means for well done jouranlism

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ahallwashpost

Being that you're a major organizer in the DC Tech space, how does The Washington Post help you in your efforts to better the community??

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

That has been one of the BEST parts of working here - WaPo JUMPED on my community involvement, providing space to many of my groups such as DC Tech Meetup, DCFemTech, InnoMAYtion, Tech Lady Hackathon, ACM, DCJS, ect - they have been so supportive of building a community and making sure there is equal representation in the tech scene - shout out to Lisa Dubler and Austin Graff as well as the amazing team at WaPo who volunteer to make these events come to life

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amadeot profile image
Amadeo

Hi Jessica! Thanks so much for doing this. As a relatively fresh developer who just moved to the area, I'm excited to check out the resources/meetup group you listed as being an organizer for. Beyond those, do you have any other recommendations for meetups or groups in the area? Thanks!

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

DC Tech Slack is awesome, DC Tech Meetup if you're into startup life.. meetup.com in general has a PLETHORA of language/tech specific groups and depending on your background/identity there are lots of women/PoC focussed groups (women who code, black code collective, DCFemTech, Color Coded ect).

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Amadeo

Thanks!

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christianhoward profile image
Christian Howard

Hi Jess! Thanks for sharing DC Tech stuff on Twitter and the DC Tech slack. It's definitely been helpful in joining the community!

What would you say was the toughest aspect of finding your first developer job?

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

My own fear hahah - I was SO afraid of the code interview and afraid people would just SLAM me for not knowing everything. That happened maybe twice in my 20 ish first interviews.. most people if you go in with honesty and a positive attitude will give that back to you... also if you are all smiles and willingness to learn, they look like big jerks for shaming you for not knowing something.

Now, I think the junior market is a TAD flooded so that can be hard in getting your first job... grit through it!!

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Christian Howard

I think that's been a big challenge of mine. I look at the code and think "that's not even possible!" only to step back and realize it totally is. I just completed a code challenge for WaPo, so maybe we'll cross paths soon!

Do you have any tips on "beating the blackhole" when it comes to job portals?

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

Oh awesome! Good luck!

there is no 'beating the blackhole' unless you have an internal contact. Maybe find their twitter accounts and tweet that you applied? mine linked in for contacts? the blackhole job form is the WORST!!!

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Damien Cosset • Edited

I am not American, but it's difficult to not be aware of the political context in the country right now :)

Does it affect you, your team or your work in any way? I am curious if the social context has an influence on your day-to-day work, especially in this field.

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

As a developer - not really, our work is not tied to the news cycle the way teams like the pay wall (when major disasters happen the lift the paywall) or editorial is. I personally am a highly political person so that does come into play with my personal feelings but through the work no..

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Tomer Ben David

do you have programmatic textual access to all washington posts articles ever published? are they stored digitally indefinitely?

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sirjessthebrave profile image
Jessica Bell

oh, that is a good question - I actually don't know. I do not have programmatic access to all article though.. not 100% sure how/were they are stored (we use an internally build CMS to manage the creation and publishing of articles on WaPo.com)