E-commerce and cloud computing giant, Amazon has introduced a new program that will make it free for Alexa developers to build and host skills using Amazon Web Services (AWS).
According to the company, the AWS Free Tier enables developers to gain free, hands-on experience using the AWS platform, products, and services. It offers up to 750 hours of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud per month at no charge. On the platform, developers can also try out services such as AWS CodePipeline, AWS Data Pipeline, and AWS Device Farm.
Werner Vogels, chief technology officer at AWS, says the aim of the programme is to free up developers to create more robust and unique skills that can take advantage of AWS services.
"With the new program, if you exceed the AWS Free Tier due to growth of your skill, or are looking to scale your skill using AWS services, you will be eligible to receive AWS promotional credits to be applied to AWS services such as Amazon EC2, Amazon Simple Storage Service, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon CloudFront," he explains.
According to recruitment specialist Adcorp, in SA there are an estimated 829 800 positions for highly skilled workers that need to be filled. Around 30 000 to 70 000 of these fall within the category of skilled technology workers.
To add to this, Grant Thornton's International Business Report in 2014 found that 83% of South African businesses reported a lack of technical skills when it came to recruitment.
"Our skill templates and step-by-step guides are a valuable way to quickly learn the end-to-end process for building and publishing an Alexa skill. You can get started quickly with the city guide template or fact skill template, or use the Alexa SDK for Node.js to create a custom skill," adds Vogels.
Developers can use the following resources to get started with developing their skills:
* Voice Design Best Practices
* Alexa Skills Kit (ASK)
* Alexa Voice Service (AVS)
* The Alexa Fund
* ASK Developer Forums
* Weekly Developer Office Hours
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