Spoke with several programmer/journalists to determine what the ideal skillset might be for an aspiring student. Part of a series on the “programmer/journalist” trend.

Web development is probably the biggest distinction between CAR skills and programmer/journalist skills, though there aren’t any hard-and-fast distinctions. To try and further define the skillset of the programmer/journalist, I posted this question on Twitter: “What skills does a programmer/journalist need?”

Brian Boyer, a graduate of Medill’s journalism for programmers master’s track and now News Applications Editor at the Chicago Tribune, responded with this list:

“XHTML / CSS / JavaScript / jQuery / Python / Django / xml / regex / Postgres / PostGIS / QGIS”

Holy alphabet soup!

Published: September 8, 2009

Publication: PBS MediaShift, a blog that tracks how new media — from weblogs to podcasts to citizen journalism — are changing society and culture.

Skills: Reporting, Writing