Hands-on Building Alexa Skills [Video]

Alexa is the most popular and widely used virtual assistant. Using simple voice commands, you can ask Alexa to find and read the news, play music, order a pizza, or control other smart home devices. The most valuable use of these voice-based apps on top of Alexa, called Alexa Skills, is for business use. There is a risk that many businesses are not taking advantage of Alexa Skills benefits, and are also wondering how and why they can—and should—use Alexa Skills to help drive their business growth. This course introduces the core concepts of voice design and how to program your backend using the Alexa Skills Kit. You will learn Voice User Interface Design principles, and how to build custom voice commands for Alexa devices using the Alexa Skills Kit, Voiceflow, and Node.js. You will explore the Alexa ecosystem and the components that make up custom Alexa skills; learn how to configure the Amazon Developer Portal, and create, code, and deploy it using Voiceflow, Node.js, Lambda functions, and Amazon Web Services. You will discover how to test your skills in the browser and on an actual Alexa device and share them with other Alexa users. You will learn to develop, test, validate, and troubleshooting skills, manage the publishing process, and work with the Alexa developer console. By the end of this course, you will be able to create voice UIs, configure Alexa skill functionality, and test/expand your skills. This course is suitable for developers who want to learn how to master Alexa Skills and use Alexa to build amazing voice UI applications, with real-world commercial benefit. Basic JavaScript and Node.js experience would be beneficial but not necessary.