Gerald Rich

Associated Press Interactive News Editor
(Sept. 2022 - Present)

Expanded a team of developers and designers, implemented two-week sprint cycles and Agile ceremonies, and mentored creative engineers.

AP News 2022 Midterms (editor)

Triaged bugs, prioritized backlogs, and managed stakeholder expectations along with technical debt across the globe leading up to and throughout election night.

"Thousands of kids are missing from school. Where did they go?" (editor)

Coordinated with developers, researchers, and stakeholders to on a custom React presentation via Asana and leveraging design critiques and code reviews.

The Atlantic Senior Software Engineer, Reader Experience
(Nov. 2019 — Sept. 2022)

Created and collaborated on award-winning features, rebuilding the website, and published enterprise stories biannually, with a focus on media elements, accessibility, and performance. (Typescript, GraphQL, Python)

"The Secret History of Family Separation" (sr. developer)

Worked closely with developers, designers, art directors, and editors to produce the Pulitzer-winning story in English and Spanish.

Shadowland (lead developer)

An interactive hub for digital and print stories about conspiracy theories in America featuring canvas animations and a secret 3D timeline.

Axios Senior Developer, News Products
(Jan. 2017 — Oct. 2019)

Constructed CMS features and API endpoints to embed interactive graphics. Built Axios’ first election graphics framework and maintained election microservices. (JavaScript, Python)

Eden (developer)

A CMS designed for efficiency and made with empathy for visual journalists.

2018 Midterm Elections (developer)

Developed microservices (data fetcher, automated screenshots) for dozens of live primary and election results embeds.

Vocativ Interactive Producer
(Jun. 2015 — Nov. 2016)

Produced data analyses and data visualizations for one to two stories every week, as well as engineered newsroom tools and applications every two weeks. (Node.js, Python, R)

DataProofer (lead developer)

A downloadable desktop (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) and command line application for proofreading spreadsheets funded in part by the Knight Foundation.

Death Day (lead developer)

Choose your own adventure in this animated, mobile-friendly interactive story.

The Marshall Project Interactive Reporter
(Sept. 2014 — May 2015)

Programmed biweekly interactive graphics about the criminal justice system, as well as reported on and researched digital crime. While I was there I gathered gigabytes of data, and developed contacts within the system — researchers, lawyers, advocates, and government officials. (Javascript, R, Ruby)

Shifting Away from Solitary (reporter, developer)

More states have passed solitary confinement reforms in 2014 than in the past 16 years.

A Pirate’s Booty (reporter)

The Feds acquire a confusing asset: Bitcoin.

ProPublica Web Producer
(Feb. 2013 — Sept. 2014)

Designed custom story layouts on a weekly basis and commissioned photos and illustrations for stories co-published with the New York Times Magazine, Boston Globe, Daily Beast and VICE. Specific engineering contributions included improving article QA tests, devloping a CSS grid for homepage redesigns, and templatizing story elements such as timelines, inserts, and sidebar graphics. (JavaScript, Ruby)

Where are the low cost cancer treatments? (producer)

Big Pharma’s focus on blockbuster cancer drugs squeezes out research into potential treatments that are more affordable. Says one researcher: “What is scientific and sexy is driven by what can be monetized.”

For a Respected Prosecutor, an Unpardonable Failure (producer)

Evidence of a convicted murderer’s possible innocence sat buried in a case file for more than two decades. Now, a prosecutor in Brooklyn will have to answer for the mistake.

Mapbox Data Analyst
(Oct. 2013 — Feb. 2014)

Reverse-engineered enterprise sites with custom, open-source mapping software for clients such as Foursquare, Mozilla and Duck Duck Go. After downloading a client’s website, I’d create working mockups for clients with new maps designed by other team members. (JavaScript, Bash)

FourSquare (developer)

Mozilla (developer)

NPR Visuals Intern
(Jun. 2013 — Aug. 2013)

As an intern, I pair-programmed NPR’s largest news app—its responsive editing interface, routes for reading and writing data, and an embeddable widget for member stations. I learned key concepts like object-relational mapping, routing delete requests, and data validation over the course of a summer. (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Python)

Playgrounds for Everyone (developer)

A community-edited guide to accessible playgrounds.

Houston Public Radio Intern
(Dec. 2012 - May 2013)

Co-produced stories for the web, created graphics in R, as well as shot and edited photos and audio. (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, R)

NRA Annual Meeting | 2013 Houston (photographer)

Photo slideshow

Driving Demand for Personal Proectection (reporter)

Every year, thousands of Harris County residents apply for concealed handgun licenses or CHLs, with more and more applications being filed since the Newtown shooting.