WCAG and you will make more money. That is the heading for this document. I’m going to now go through several bullet points. Starting with you will have an additional bullet point to add on your resume. So, knowledge of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is a skill, and this demonstrates that you understand principles of digital accessibility because the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are specific for the Web, but the principles apply to digital assets across the board.
So when you understand the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, you have a very good understanding of digital accessibility. You may not know the specifics, for example, you may not know how to make an Excel spreadsheet accessible, but you understand the principles of accessibility. So this can help even for jobs that are unrelated to accessibility. Let’s say you’re applying for a traditional position at a bank related to accessibility, not whatsoever. Still, you have an additional skill on your resume that is unique.
So you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody that is knowledgeable of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. And it’s also seemingly complex. So many people stay away from these technical standards because they just seem too complicated, and they’re for someone else who is more tech-savvy or more aware of accessibility. This is just not for them. Many people are, I think, there’s even a low grade of fear of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. So if you have this, it’s a significant marketable advantage that you have on others.
And if the person reviewing your application or interviewing does not know about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, it works well for you to explain what they are and how they help. And this is something that that person can start internalizing and realizing, oh, you have something that’s very marketable and helpful and we need this. And they may know that already, or they may start to think about it and realize later how valuable this is and how much they need it.
And especially as you’re explaining about accessibility and how you came to know about it, you can also convey to them subtly you’re not telling them directly that they need it, but by saying that like, oh, yeah, this is something that has come about because of how the Americans with Disabilities Act is being interpreted and the different requirements under Section 508 and Section 504, and how anybody that’s a recipient of federal funding needs to make their digital assets accessible, etc.
If you’re explaining that this person is hearing that, and if they can put two and two together, they might realize that, hey, either we need you for this position because you’re going to add additional value, or there’s another position we can place you in because we might need you here more. But the point is, it makes you more marketable. It’s a very valuable bullet point to have on your resume, and one that is material. It’s not fluffy. It really adds to your resume.
Also, if you are thinking about a career in accessibility. All accessibility positions, regardless of what they are, they require knowledge of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. And if you’re in accessibility, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in sales or another position that’s not really related, that’s not really directly involved in accessibility. Even if you’re marketing accessibility, you need to know about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines because the principles come up over and over again.
So if you are thinking about entering the accessibility space, you need to know the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. And by the way, these positions can easily hit six figures. I see this all the time on job postings. And the other day I saw a position that Target the post is no longer live, but the salary was $196,000 for this position. And of course, it required knowledge of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Also, if you’re selling digital products and you incorporate the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and you make them WCAG conformant, that is going to help you. It’s going to give you the first mover advantage in your space in terms of accessibility and WCAG. Because what do people do? They find out about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and they search for it. Not many people think to market accessibility and WCAG conformance. So if you learn these guidelines and you incorporate accessibility into your product or service, you’re going to have an advantage.
And it’s something even if people aren’t looking for it, if you promote it, then all of a sudden you have that advantage. It gives you the first mover advantage into accessibility for your category. You may not have been first in your category, but you will be first for accessibility in your category. And more and more and more people are looking for accessibility and just wait for a new law to come into place. And I’ll talk about more about that after this next bullet point, which is digital accessibility consulting.
It is desperately needed, whether people know it or not. But the good news is that more and more people are becoming aware and think about everybody with digital assets. They need to make them accessible, and they need help with doing so. They need help with accessibility programs, they need help with building accessibility policies or writing accessibility policies. This space is going to become even more trending. It’s going to become even more on fire than it already has been.
Just wait until the DOJ passes a new regulation, congress passes the new law, and or the Americans With Disabilities Act gets amended. Wait until that happens, and then you will see movement, so much tremendous movement. And there will be such a need for digital accessibility. So even if someone isn’t aware of the need now, let them know what you do and they might come back to you later on. But you can definitely build a small business around accessibility. But of course, you must know the Web Content Accessibility guidelines inside and out.
So how do you learn about WCAG? Well, training, right? Like you can go about this informally or you can go about it formally. What I did is I took the informal route and I learned about foundational concepts from guides, checklists, YouTube. I spent a lot of time watching videos and just flipping through, reading different blogs on accessibility and going that route. It took me a long time, but what I was doing was I was looking for content that I was looking for good content, right?
Someone who knew what they were talking about, but also knew how to relay that in simple terms. And I was trying to avoid the fluffy content. There’s so much fluff out there where people are just wasting your time going over these long convoluted explanations in a roundabout way to get at something that they can distill very easily so that you can extract meaning. So I went about it going through many, many different materials and learning WCAG and just finding who I learned best from and also taking into consideration the learning style.
So that’s another sub bullet point I have below. Time is the learning style. So who are you best learning from? Who writes really well? Who is conveying the meaning of the subject very well? What I have here is my WCAT course and YouTube. So if you take you can combine multiple resources, but you want to learn this as fast as possible. You don’t want to spend a month or two months learning about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. You will learn more over time, but you want to start to grasp the essentials right away.
And so I recommend my WCAG course. You can go to Wcagcourse.com. I’ll link to it in the description below. And this is me going through in plain English and explaining all of the success criteria in as easy to understand terms as possible. And there’s a video, and then there’s the text below. And then there’s a link to every success criterion on the W three C. Of course, this information, you can find it if you are looking online, but it’s not as fast, right? Part of this to me is time is of the essence.
I want to have everything distilled down for me and explain for me in easy to understand fashion. And so that’s why I recommend my course. But you can also supplement this with YouTube and watching videos on. People go through the success criteria in other ways. So there’s something to be said about learning something and then learning it again and going through it again. And you will start to really start to hone in on becoming an expert and developing expertise, which is where you want to get at.
