Amazon Alexa Skill Building Workshop & Hackathon

This FREE workshop, presented by Amazon and Code District is intended for anyone interested in learning how to program voice controlled devices.  Amazon Alexa is a great place to start learning. 

Hands-on labs will teach you how to code cool skills for Alexa.

Lucky participants will win a free Amazon devices!

Learn Skill Development for the Echo Show

Echo devices with a screen, such as Echo Show and Echo Spot, allow skill developers to create skills for Alexa that use both screen and voice interaction. Hands-on labs will teach you how to build Alexa skill for the new Echo Show device using the new video capabilities.

What is an Alexa Skill?

Alexa is Amazon’s voice service and the brain behind tens of millions of devices like the Echo family of devices including Echo Show and Echo Spot. Skills are like apps for smart phones and tablets. They provide capabilities for Alexa devices. There are now tens of thousands of skills from companies like Starbucks, Uber, and Capital One as well as other innovative designers and developers in the Alexa skill store.

Beginning and Advance Skill Development
Saturday, August 18 | 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Attendees will learn about voice user interfaces (VUI) and will gain experience with three services: Amazon’s Alexa Skills Kit, AWS Lambda, and the Node.js backend JavaScript framework. The need for Alexa Skill Developers is growing rapidly, as many companies move toward adding Alexa voice control to their products and services. Now is a great time to begin learning this valuable skill!

Skills Hackathon
Sunday, August 19 | 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Got a great idea for an Alexa skill? Start building it in this full day Alexa skill hackathon. Skills that are built during this hackathon that pass the Alexa certification test will be published to the Amazon Alexa skills store for anyone to download!

First and Second Prize for Best Skills

First and second place prizes will be awarded. Winners will be selected based on the uniqueness of the skill, creativity and best use of the Alexa Skill Kit especially the use of in-skill purchasing.

First prize – Amazon Echo Show
Second prize – Amazon Echo Spot

Pre-requisites For this Event
Get a developer account: developer.amazon.com (free)
Get an aws account:  aws.amazon.com (free - but CC required for signup)
Download sample templates to your desktop: https://github.com/alexa

Requirements: Laptop computer and a willingness to learn

Justin Jeffress
Senior Solutions Architect, Alexa Hackathons. at Amazon



This event is sponsored by Genuent IT Staffing.  Genuent has openings for software engineers skilled in React, React Native, Node.js.