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Thread: Deadline Tomorrow – Join Our New CPACC Certificates

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Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Tue, Jun 14 2016 6:41AM
Subject: Deadline Tomorrow – Join Our New CPACC Certificates
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Joshua,

I do plan on taking the certification test, likely later this year. My reasons are probably atypical and likely not particularly useful for others--but I think I can make a few suggestions why I might encourage others to take the certification.

If you are newer to accessibility, you likely have experienced the frustration of trying to figure out what you should learn. The other aspect that can be frustrating for people newer to the field is validating their level of knowledge. Studying for this certification can provide you with a good foundation for continuing to build your accessibility expertise. Taking and passing the certification can also give you a better sense of validation that you successfully learned the fundamentals.

Certifications also provide a way to demonstrate a certain level of knowledge to others--like employers. The fact is that anyone can say they are an accessibility expert. Even if they are an accessibility expert, that really tells you nothing about the knowledge and skills they possess. A certification represents that you are familiar with some type of core knowledge or skills--and that may help if you are trying to make a case why someone should hire you as an accessibility expert.

Those are some of the reasons I might offer to someone who is thinking about pursuing the certification. I am sure there are others and likely which ones work best for you, if any, will depend on your current circumstances.

From: Gillen, Lori
Date: Tue, Jun 14 2016 7:05AM
Subject: Re: Deadline Tomorrow – Join Our New CPACC Certificates
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Tim-

Thank you for posting this. I am in that very position of being new and frustrated trying to figure out what I need to learn and how to prioritize that.

When you go to Deque, do you just sign up for the online course and the test at the end, or do you need to take all the other online courses listed there too? Some are not applicable to my needs.

Thank you,

Lori Gillen
McKesson Corporation

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Tue, Jun 14 2016 11:51AM
Subject: Re: Deadline Tomorrow – Join Our New CPACC Certificates
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The IAAP certification is actually separate from the Deque courses.

If you want to learn about the IAAP certification, you will want to look at:
http://www.accessibilityassociation.org/

The Deque courses are one way you might prepare for the certification. However, you can also just choose to sign-up for the Deque courses you find useful.

Actually, if you or others who are new to accessibility are interested, I would be willing to mentor a few people. I know this field is quite rewarding, but it can also seem overwhelming to people new to accessibility. However, our field is in desperate need of more experts and I definitely wish to do my part in helping new people develop their skills and knowledge.

Thanks,
Tim


From: Julie Romanowski
Date: Tue, Jun 14 2016 12:10PM
Subject: Re: Deadline Tomorrow – Join Our New CPACC Certificates
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Deque offers a prep course for IAAP certification - https://dequeuniversity.com/curriculum/courses/iaap-cpacc. I've been going through in in preparation for my exam this Thursday, and I think the information provided in the course is very helpful.

From: Gillen, Lori
Date: Tue, Jun 14 2016 12:37PM
Subject: Re: Deadline Tomorrow – Join Our New CPACC Certificates
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Tim-

Yes, when I had more time to look at your message, I realized that the Deque courses are different from the certification, and I signed up to be an IAAP member.

I would love mentoring, if you have the time. I am fairly proficient in accessibility awareness, but I have no skills yet in coding.

Lori Gillen
McKesson Corproation

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Wed, Jun 15 2016 6:17AM
Subject: Re: Deadline Tomorrow – Join Our New CPACC Certificates
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Lori,

I definitely would be glad to help however I can. Contact me via my e-mail address ( = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ) and we can try to set up some mentoring.

Thanks,
Tim