I think this is something that would be best learned in the first few weeks and months of a job. This list is aimed at new developers and career switchers - accessibility can feel like a very deep area to get into and, while I'm not minimising its importance, it just isn't a required skill to get into development. I would also say that it is probably something that should be handled by a frontend dev really as badly done accessibility is pretty much as bad as no accessibility.
I completely disagree, that mindset is partly why accessibility on the web is such a problem right now. It's viewed as less important and someone elses job.
Accessibility is a fundamental principle of any front end web development (and as such something a full stack developer needs to know). I'd put it above needing to know how to use npm, which is certainly useful, but not essential, and most developers can get by with a copy paste of an npm command without needing to know what the tool is or what it does.
As a discipline, it's something I see too often pushed back as less important at all levels. I've seen managers instruct teams to "leave the accessibility stuff" until last because of tight deadlines. I've seen senior developers push back on it in favour of polishing the CSS because "accessibility is just for a tiny percent of our audience", and I've seen junior developers have little to no knowledge about the subject because it wasn't deemed important enough by seniors.
The industry as a whole pretty much acknowledges at this point that one of the main obstacles to accessibility is education, and particularly education at an early stage of web development. It's not an add-on, it's a fundamental, and developers need a basic foundation in order to continue thinking about it throughout all aspects of their work.
So, I think it absolutely should be part of any full stack developers checklist.
Thanks for this comment, you make fantastic points and I agree with what you are saying overall.
However, this list is specially focussed on the skills needed to get a job as a full stack dev. Rightly or (I think we agree) wrongly employers don’t require accessibility knowledge as required experience to get a job. If they did I would totally put it on here. This list is the bare minimum requirements to get a job as a full stack dev. While I agree that all web devs should have knowledge of how to implement accessibility, employers looking for junior devs just don’t make it a prerequisit, which is a shame.
I've interviewed people for web development positions, and there's always been a portion involving web accessibility for any position that involves front end work.
I think there is a shift (albeit slow) in the industry as businesses recognise the legal, ethical, and financial need to ensure their products or services are accessible. With that shift, more developers will be needing to have knowledge of accessibility to stay current and try and keep ahead of their competition in interviews. That goes for all levels, beginner and senior alike.
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I think this is something that would be best learned in the first few weeks and months of a job. This list is aimed at new developers and career switchers - accessibility can feel like a very deep area to get into and, while I'm not minimising its importance, it just isn't a required skill to get into development. I would also say that it is probably something that should be handled by a frontend dev really as badly done accessibility is pretty much as bad as no accessibility.
I completely disagree, that mindset is partly why accessibility on the web is such a problem right now. It's viewed as less important and someone elses job.
Accessibility is a fundamental principle of any front end web development (and as such something a full stack developer needs to know). I'd put it above needing to know how to use npm, which is certainly useful, but not essential, and most developers can get by with a copy paste of an npm command without needing to know what the tool is or what it does.
As a discipline, it's something I see too often pushed back as less important at all levels. I've seen managers instruct teams to "leave the accessibility stuff" until last because of tight deadlines. I've seen senior developers push back on it in favour of polishing the CSS because "accessibility is just for a tiny percent of our audience", and I've seen junior developers have little to no knowledge about the subject because it wasn't deemed important enough by seniors.
The industry as a whole pretty much acknowledges at this point that one of the main obstacles to accessibility is education, and particularly education at an early stage of web development. It's not an add-on, it's a fundamental, and developers need a basic foundation in order to continue thinking about it throughout all aspects of their work.
So, I think it absolutely should be part of any full stack developers checklist.
Thanks for this comment, you make fantastic points and I agree with what you are saying overall.
However, this list is specially focussed on the skills needed to get a job as a full stack dev. Rightly or (I think we agree) wrongly employers don’t require accessibility knowledge as required experience to get a job. If they did I would totally put it on here. This list is the bare minimum requirements to get a job as a full stack dev. While I agree that all web devs should have knowledge of how to implement accessibility, employers looking for junior devs just don’t make it a prerequisit, which is a shame.
I've interviewed people for web development positions, and there's always been a portion involving web accessibility for any position that involves front end work.
I think there is a shift (albeit slow) in the industry as businesses recognise the legal, ethical, and financial need to ensure their products or services are accessible. With that shift, more developers will be needing to have knowledge of accessibility to stay current and try and keep ahead of their competition in interviews. That goes for all levels, beginner and senior alike.