Beginner Amazon Alexa Workshop

Workshop 1: Coding Basics

Sat 9/16/2017
Start time: 8:30 am EDT
End time: 1:00 pm EDT

Workshop 2: Amazon Alexa

Sat 9/23/2017
Start time: 8:30 am EDT
End time: 1:00 pm EDT

Course

This is an AlexaBridge event. The focus will be on developing Alexa Skills to be utilized by Amazon Echoes.

Click here for more information about class levels in this course!

Workshop Description

AlexaBridge is a free Amazon Alexa programming workshop for women. Alexa is the voice service that powers Echo, provides capabilities, or skills, that enable customers to interact with devices in a more intuitive way using voice.

Who is this for?


This is a workshop for beginner developers. No programming experience is required and any level of skill is welcome. We've partnered with Moms Can Code, a new organization that supports moms interested in learning how to code, to make the workshop as accessible to as many students as possible.

Please join us if you identify as a woman (cis, trans, genderqueer, or gender non-conforming). Being a mom is not a requirement :)

Each participant needs to bring her own computer with a fairly recent Mac, Linux or Windows installation. If you have questions about your hardware, please email us before the event.

If you have already worked with Alexa, please ask us about being a TA or teacher!

What Will We Do?


Day 1: Students will walk through the command line and git basics. We will also walk through a brief introduction to the AWS console.

Day 2: Students will walk through building your own Alexa Quiz skill. No previous programming experience required but it will be beneficial to know the command line and Git (Day 1 is a must!).

Volunteers

We're looking for volunteers (any gender) to teach and TA who have Amazon Web Services, command line and Git experience.

RSVPs

It's important that if you sign up, you must attend. If you are unable to attend and you have RSVP'd, please be sure to update your RSVP so another student can take your place.

Sponsors

Academy Pittsburgh is taking care of hosting, food and drinks. A big thank you to them!

Thank you to Truefit for hosting us!

Partners

Moms Can Code
Girl Develop It Pittsburgh

Transportation and Parking

Although there is not a provided lot, there is ample parking around Downtown Pittsburgh on a Saturday. Here's a link to parking in Downtown: http://parkpgh.org. Plenty of busing and trolley options too: http://www.portauthority.org/paac/SchedulesMaps/TripPlanner.aspx

Food and Drinks

Food and drinks will be provided (breakfast & lunch on Day 1 and breakfast on Day 2). Please indicate dietary needs when signing up.

Childcare

We are offering childcare during both mornings of the workshop — if you will be needing childcare, please note it on your RSVP and we will contact you with more details before the event.

Childcare requests must be submitted by September 12th. After that, we cannot guarantee childcare availability, so please request early!

3 volunteers!

15 students!