I want to offer accessibility certification services to employer company, as a vendor. How to go about it?

[p31]

Long story short - am programmer in healthcare insurance comapny, who helped out with accessibility, and now I'm my company's defacto "accessibility wizard".

They had a vendor who sucked so hard - hence my wizard status. Vendor needs to confirm and certify periodically that frontend code work is under compliance for accessibility. Me and my team became really good at coding them up.

Then they decided to go with one of the bigger vendors in the accessibility field - which costs $31k ~ $50k per year!

And then here's me, who wants to create my own software services agency. I already created a website offering a landing service and my services, but haven't really ventured out to get customers - mainly because I'm busy creating the website/system for my small cottage food delivery side gig.

I know how these contracts are long - often yearly. I sense there's a window of opportunity, and it's closing fast. I can lowball my offering, and know I can provide a good quality service.

So my question:
As an employee, would I be dinged or marked as a problematic employee if I offer a side gig for providing accessibility certification? How should go about it?

More info:
Yes there's a legal conundrum of me being an employee - offering certification might raise some eyebrows, but it's not something a third party assessment tool can find out that my certifications are lying.

I have an idea of automation that could save me some time doing it as well.

I was going to offer it after I move out of the company but unfortunately it's not happening as fast as I want.


Thanks in advance!

 

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[Jon L]

Long story short - am programmer in healthcare insurance comapny, who helped out with accessibility, and now I'm my company's defacto "accessibility wizard".

They had a vendor who sucked so hard - hence my wizard status. Vendor needs to confirm and certify periodically that frontend code work is under compliance for accessibility. Me and my team became really good at coding them up.

Then they decided to go with one of the bigger vendors in the accessibility field - which costs $31k ~ $50k per year!

And then here's me, who wants to create my own software services agency. I already created a website offering a landing service and my services, but haven't really ventured out to get customers - mainly because I'm busy creating the website/system for my small cottage food delivery side gig.

I know how these contracts are long - often yearly. I sense there's a window of opportunity, and it's closing fast. I can lowball my offering, and know I can provide a good quality service.

So my question:
As an employee, would I be dinged or marked as a problematic employee if I offer a side gig for providing accessibility certification? How should go about it?

More info:
Yes there's a legal conundrum of me being an employee - offering certification might raise some eyebrows, but it's not something a third party assessment tool can find out that my certifications are lying.

I have an idea of automation that could save me some time doing it as well.

I was going to offer it after I move out of the company but unfortunately it's not happening as fast as I want.


Thanks in advance!

You need to read through all the paperwork you signed when you started working for this company. Some companies make you sign an agreement when you're a software developer that basically says the company owns everything you make regardless of whether you did it on company time or not. Some companies will have explicit policies about side businesses.

As long as what you're making doesn't directly compete with what your employer does, you should be fine. If you think they might want to get into the business you're contemplating at some point, be careful. But, if they sell insurance/rent cars/develop accounting software, and you're thinking about doing accessibility software, you're fine.

I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice, so YMMV. Consult a lawyer if you're worried.

As so whether or not to tell your employer about your side business: If the conversation goes well, its a good idea to tell them. If it doesn't, then you shouldn't have told them. Not great advice, I know. What kind of employer are they? Are they generous or stingy?

I personally would err on the side of not telling them. You don't tell them when you go to a baseball game, out to a late night movie, or on a long weekend trip, do you? Your personal life isn't any of their business as long as it doesn't interfere with your job.

 

[p31]

You need to read through all the paperwork you signed when you started working for this company. Some companies make you sign an agreement when you're a software developer that basically says the company owns everything you make regardless of whether you did it on company time or not. Some companies will have explicit policies about side businesses.

As long as what you're making doesn't directly compete with what your employer does, you should be fine. If you think they might want to get into the business you're contemplating at some point, be careful. But, if they sell insurance/rent cars/develop accounting software, and you're thinking about doing accessibility software, you're fine.

I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice, so YMMV. Consult a lawyer if you're worried.

As so whether or not to tell your employer about your side business: If the conversation goes well, its a good idea to tell them. If it doesn't, then you shouldn't have told them. Not great advice, I know. What kind of employer are they? Are they generous or stingy?

I personally would err on the side of not telling them. You don't tell them when you go to a baseball game, out to a late night movie, or on a long weekend trip, do you? Your personal life isn't any of their business as long as it doesn't interfere with your job.

Thank you for the advice.

Oh when I say I'm telling them - I mean I'm pitching them, selling my "company"'s Accessibility service to solve their problem of inability to find a better option than the vendor they have, but cheaper than the one they are contemplating to go with.