Meet the first-ever accessibility engineer at The Washington Post

I have for years been at this crossroads of wanting a more community-oriented journalism job while also enjoying the day-to-day work of software engineering. Basically, I would rather write code than write articles, but I’m more passionate about interacting with people than with technology. Accessibility in technology is such an interdisciplinary area of focus; it’s about understanding the needs of individual people and how to build things inclusively. That feels like a perfect combination of my skills, passion, and interests.

Accessibility is a relatively small area of focus in journalism right now. There aren’t yet a lot of roles like the one I’m starting now. At its core, I think journalism is about wanting valuable information accessible to as many people as possible, and I believe I have potential to create real change if I invest fully into it. Thankfully, the Post agreed and created this new title.