Practitioner Level
3 Hands-on labs

AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty 2020

By Kesha Williams

Learn the major components of building, testing, certifying, and publishing Amazon Alexa Skills, and prepare for the AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty exam.

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6 hours
  • 83 Lessons
  • 3 Hands-On Labs
  • 5 Course Quizzes
  • 1 Practice Exam

About the course

**March 22, 2021 is the last day to take the AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder certification. After this date, the certification will be retired by AWS. This course will remain available to learners as part of our legacy content, but it will no longer be updated or maintained by our Training Architect team.

There are reported to be over 100,000 Alexa Skills, and the number is growing at a rapid rate. By making it seamless and frictionless, voice-first technology is revolutionizing the way individuals interact with technology. Many companies are starting to invest in voice-first technology, and are now looking for machine learning professionals who understand how to build, test, certify, and publish Amazon Alexa Skills.

This course uses real-world case studies to teach you how to design and build engaging voice experiences, while preparing you for the AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty exam. Get prepared to take this exam with your instructor Kesha Williams (and co-instructor Alexa!), and become an AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder.

In this course, you’ll learn:

  • The process to design a voice experience using voice-first design patterns and capabilities.
  • The steps to architect an Alexa Skill using Amazon Web Services.
  • The tasks required to create Alexa Skills that are both voice-only and multimodal.
  • Several advanced Alexa Skill building features like visual elements, sounds effects, audio, and video.
  • The techniques used for dialog and state management.
  • Easy ways to personalize your Alexa Skill to improve customer experiences.
  • Quick steps for testing your Alexa Skill using the Alexa Simulator, an Echo device, and beta testers.
  • The steps required to certify and publish Alexa Skills to the Alexa Skills Store or using an Alexa for Business account.

No prior experience building Alexa Skills is required – this course is suitable for anyone wanting to prepare for the AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty exam.

Lab Highlights

Introduction to AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Creating a Simple AWS Lambda Function AWS DynamoDB in the Console – Creating Tables, Items, and Indexes
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  • Chapter 1 5 Lessons Introduction to the Course 22:29

    An Important Note About A Cloud Guru and Linux Academy Courses

    1:18

    Welcome

    2:15

    Introduction to the Course

    6:02

    Device & Account Setup

    8:59

    Exam Blueprint

    3:55
  • Chapter 2 3 Lessons Introduction to Alexa 10:24

    About Alexa

    3:41

    Ways to Build with Alexa

    2:12

    Introduction to Course Case Study

    4:31
  • Chapter 3 10 Lessons Skill Design 40:26

    Design Patterns

    4:35

    Personalization

    3:38

    Personalization in Action

    2:10

    Voice Considerations

    2:06

    Localization in Action

    1:36

    Design Practices

    1:42

    Design Steps

    3:33

    Interaction Model

    2:00

    Interaction Model Demo

    4:06

    Chapter 3 Quiz

    15:00 Quiz
  • Chapter 4 3 Lessons Skill Architecture 23:03

    Case Study Architecture

    5:38

    Creation Process

    2:25

    Chapter 4 Quiz

    15:00 Quiz
  • Chapter 5 25 Lessons Skill Development 4:01:44

    Alexa Skills Kit (ASK)

    18:47

    Alexa Developer Console

    1:29

    Interaction Model

    12:19

    Interfaces

    3:30

    Interaction Model Demo

    10:25

    Skill Architecture

    0:30

    Lambda

    4:48

    Creating a Simple AWS Lambda Function

    30:00 Hands-On Lab

    DynamoDB

    3:56

    AWS DynamoDB in the Console - Creating Tables, Items, and Indexes

    30:00 Hands-On Lab

    DynamoDB Demo

    4:27

    S3

    5:11

    CloudFront

    2:43

    Identity & Access Management (IAM)

    0:30

    Introduction to AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

    45:00 Hands-On Lab

    CloudWatch

    1:12

    Lambda Setup and Configuration

    4:15

    Setup Environment

    4:12

    Develop Backend Logic

    6:40

    Deploy Backend Logic

    11:04

    Link Front End to Back End

    5:53

    Testing & Troubleshooting

    6:01

    Non-Lambda Endpoint

    2:32

    Connecting Lambda to DynamoDB

    11:20

    Chapter 5 Quiz

    15:00 Quiz
  • Chapter 6 16 Lessons Advanced Skill Development 1:44:26

    Devices with Screens

    2:40

    Visual Components

    17:53

    Sound Effects

    9:25

    Audio Streaming

    8:10

    Video

    2:45

    Dialog Management

    8:16

    State Management

    10:05

    Alexa Settings API

    3:20

    Device Address API

    4:32

    Customer Profile API

    2:55

    Location Services

    2:45

    Account Linking

    3:40

    In-Skill Purchasing (ISP)

    8:15

    Amazon Pay

    1:00

    Security & Privacy

    3:45

    Chapter 6

    15:00 Quiz
  • Chapter 7 7 Lessons Test, Validate, and Troubleshoot 29:45

    Device Testing

    1:01

    Console Testing

    3:12

    Programmatic & CLI

    1:34

    Intent History

    3:40

    Common Errors

    1:42

    Beta Testing

    3:36

    Chapter 7

    15:00 Quiz
  • Chapter 8 9 Lessons Publishing, Operations, and Lifecycle Management 34:49

    Skill Preparation

    5:54

    Locales

    2:56

    Certification Tips

    2:25

    Skill Manifest

    1:11

    Skill Submission

    4:17

    Alexa for Business

    3:10

    Metrics

    9:17

    Version Management

    2:37

    Working with a Team

    3:02
  • Chapter 9 5 Lessons Additional Skill Types 18:03

    Flash Briefing Skills

    8:21

    Video Skills

    2:23

    Smart Home Skills

    3:17

    List Skills

    1:57

    Music Skills

    2:05
  • Chapter 10 2 Lessons New Features 6:55

    Alexa Skill Hosting

    4:23

    Notifications & Reminders

    2:32
  • Chapter 11 4 Lessons Summary & Good Luck 3:09:45

    Exam Strategy

    5:15

    Next Steps

    2:48

    Thank You & Good Luck!

    1:42

    AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder Specialty

    3:00:00 Quiz

What you will need

  • At a minimum: Certified Cloud Practitioner

  • Recommended: Certified Solutions Architect - Associate

What you can expect

  • Knowledge of how AI technologies power Alexa

  • Ability to have intelligent conversations about voice user interface design and common voice-first design patterns

  • Knowledge of how to create advanced Alexa Skills backed by Lambda or your own HTTPS endpoint using the AWS CLI and the Alexa Developer Console

  • Familiarity with Alexa Skill architecture using Amazon Web Services: IAM, CloudFront, CloudWatch, S3, DynamoDB, and Lambda

  • An understanding of testing and troubleshooting steps that quickly resolve issues

  • Things to look out for when certifying your Alexa Skills and publishing them to the Alexa Skills Store

What are Hands-on Labs

What's the difference between theoretical knowledge and real skills? Practical real-world experience. That's where Hands-on Labs come in! Hands-on Labs are guided, interactive experiences that help you learn and practice real-world scenarios in real cloud environments. Hands-on Labs are seamlessly integrated in courses, so you can learn by doing.

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