For my sins, I'm obliged to use the NVDA screen reader at my day job for accessibility testing.
I really don't enjoy doing this. For starters, I don't enjoy exploratory "let's try to break the app" testing in the first place. It's tedious, thankless work to me; I prefer the sort of testing I have to do to troubleshoot and fix a bug that somebody else has identified. I'd rather be refactoring existing code (to eliminate some of it) or implementing new functionality, too, but this is the work I was given.
Furthermore, the way I have to use a keyboard in the browser is antithetical to the way I typically use a browser. Then there are the voices themselves. None of them are pleasant.
Finally, there's the fact that I must record my tests without adequate tools for editing the resulting video, let alone any training in video editing in the first place. I'm screwed if I forget to mute my mike and then vent frustration by muttering profanities; the client does not need or want to hear me dropping F-bombs like a B-52 over Dresden in World War II. If I don't get it right in one take, I've got to start from scratch.
Frankly, if I lost my sight and was obliged to use a computer with a screenreader, I think I would prefer to simply stop using computers — especially if the only way to use a computer at work as a blind person is to use Windows.
So, why am I ranting like this? Well, I just saw a Robert Half salary guide that suggests that I'm underpaid by about $50,000 relative to my area. So not only am I not getting paid as much as I might reasonably expect given my experience, but I feel like I've been given a punishment detail because the firm can't be bothered to hire actual testers for my project.
Yes, I'm mostly just bitching.
One could argue that I should be grateful to have a job, but frankly that's bullshit.
A job isn't a privilege.
It isn't a gift.
It's a business transaction: I do the job, and then I get paid.
Being happy about it costs extra, and I'm not getting paid for that.
Hell, I don't even get time and a half for the overtime I work, because I'm somehow "exempt" under the Fair Labor Standards Act even though I have to report my hours so that the company can bill clients, which leads me to suspect that the entire tech industry is powered by endemic wage theft.
As a result, I'm feeling a bit demoralized and thoroughly annoyed right now. So I'm griping on my own website instead of complaining to managers who don't want to hear it, since I don't have a union rep because the tech industry isn't unionized. Even if my bosses gave a shit — a debatable proposition at best — they don't necessarily have the authority to do anything about it.
Are they really going to bring testers on board just because I'm being the sort of prima donna who would rather scrub toilets for $20/hour than test a web app with a janky screen reader so that it's more accessible for everybody? Of course not, and to think otherwise is most likely entitlement on my part; I don't need to be told as much, if anybody is thinking of doing so. I know somebody has to do it, and I might even be the best person for the job, but I still don't feel obligated to like it. Either way I'm dealing with other people's shit; this just pays a lot better (but not nearly enough).
I can't help but suspect that if you're passionate about working in tech, you're not actually smart enough to do so. If you're a techie and this offends you, then riddle me this: if techies are so goddamned smart, why aren't we unionized? Are truck drivers and retail workers smarter than we are? How about electricians and plumbers? What do actors and screenwriters know that we don't? For Hell's sake, even sf/fantasy/horror and romance authors have unions.
So, why aren't we techies unionized already? Why do we insist on acting like temporarily embarrassed capitalists instead of accepting that we are workers, understanding our best interests as a class, and acting accordingly? Why are we begging individually instead of collectively bargaining?