Alumni Story: Blending JavaScript With Journalism

Student Melissa DePuydt

Melissa DePuydt (Web Development ImmersiveWashington, D.C) was tired of being held back by her lack of web development skills. As a writer at a marketing company, she was tasked with digital storytelling — but her team wouldn’t hire a developer to execute the ideas. She decided, “If my company couldn’t hire a web developer to make my life easier, then I would become a developer myself.” She then quit her job, and enrolled in GA’s full-time Web Development Immersive (WDI) in Washington, D.C.

During WDI, DePuydt uncovered a love for JavaScript and discovered where it intersected with her journalism background. Four days after the course ended, she parlayed her new skills and experience into a job offer from the Washington Post. “My behind-the-scenes role is to build features that house the work of the Post’s talented news reporters and graphics editors,” DePuydt says. “They’re creating exactly the kind of content I had always envisioned — and I get to play a role in it.”