Experience
Diamond, Montréal— Senior accessibility specialist (October 2021 to PRESENT)
- Advised UX specialists, UI specialists, and developers on best Web practices and approaches on client projects,
- Collaborated with other accessibility specialists on documentation for different uses,
- Evaluated Web pages with manual tests, screen readers (VoiceOver on MacOS, JAWS and NVDA on Windows) and mobile devices (VoiceOver and TalkBack).
Desjardins, Montréal— Web accessibility SME (March 2021 to October 2021)
- Advised UX specialists, UI specialists, content writers and developers on best Web practices and approaches,
- Trained colleagues on different Web accessibility topics, namely accessible PDF creation and remediation,
- Evaluated Web pages with manual tests, screen readers (JAWS and NVDA) and mobile devices (VoiceOver and TalkBack),
- Collaborated on writing component requirements for the organization’s design system.
Hydro-Québec, Montréal— Webmaster and Web accessibility lead (November 2015 to March 2021)
- Web development Team Lead from November 2019 onward,
- Advised colleagues on best Web practices and approaches to answer internal client’s needs,
- Acted as the organization’s lead Web accessibility expert,
- Trained consultants and colleagues on Web accessibility,
- Produced and presented reports on recommendations for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 A/AA compliance,
- Created new web components and updated existing ones.
Association québécoise de défense des droits des personnes retraitées et préretraitées, Montréal— Webmaster (October 2014 to November 2015)
- Maintained and created accessible content for the organization’s Website,
- Provided technical support and recommendations to staff and board of directors.
Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, Montréal— Webmaster (June 2014 to October 2014)
- Assured that Web accessibility guidelines were respected,
- Collaborated with graphic designers on various small Web projects and with external suppliers on system applications.
Coopérative de Solidarité AccessibilitéWeb & WebConforme, Montréal— Web Accessibility Consultant (February 2011 to February 2014)
- Short term contracts at Développement Économique Canada, Transport Canada, Hydro-Québec, Services Québec, amongst others.
- The main objectives of these contracts were to:
- Gave insights on strategies to comply with WCAG 2.0 and SGQRI-008.
- Remediated transactional and informational websites.
- Gave presentations on topics related to Web accessibility.
- Provided specific recommendations to correct erroneous code.
- Produce reports on web accessibility audits of sample HTML pages, wireframes, prototypes or web design.
Symetris, Montréal— Web developer (January 2010 to February 2011)
As part of a web development team, my primary role was to integrate web designs into WordPress themes and Drupal templates.
Skills
- Languages (spoken and written): French, English and Spanish.
- Advanced knowledge of digital accessibility best practices, WAI-ARIA techniques and WCAG 2.1 standards.
- Ability to delegate, prioritize, plan and manage several projects simultaneously.
- Produce thorough documentation of Web analysis.
Certification
Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) from IAAP – International Association of Accessibility Professionals (Credential ID 22JFWRA002)
Education
Concordia University, Montreal— Bachelor in Computer Science and Computation Arts (2006 – 2009)
References
Available upon request.
Contact information
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rocioalvarado/
- Phone: 514.938.1091
- Email: rocio.alvarado@gmail.com