Introduction to Alexa Skill Builder Certification
The Alexa Skill Builder Certification is an exam offered by Amazon to validate a developer’s ability to build, test, certify, and publish Alexa skills. As voice interfaces like Alexa become increasingly popular, this certification demonstrates proficiency in creating voice-first experiences on Amazon’s platform.
Obtaining the certification involves learning key concepts around voice design, skill architecture, skill development, testing, publishing, and operations. This article provides an overview of the certification and related topics to help developers prepare for the exam. We’ll cover the exam objectives, format, registration process, preparation tips, and benefits of becoming a certified Alexa skill builder.
Alexa Skills Overview
Alexa skills are voice-driven capabilities that allow customers to interact conversationally with Alexa. There are over 100,000 skills across categories like games, music, education, productivity, health/fitness, kids, home automation, and more.
Some examples of popular Alexa skills include:
- Smart home skills to control lights, thermostats, appliances
- Music streaming skills like Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music
- Weather information skills
- News/podcast skills like NPR, WSJ, and CNN
- Ride-booking skills like Uber and Lyft
- Voice games and trivia skills
Alexa skills enhance Alexa’s built-in capabilities and allow customers to get more value from their Alexa-enabled devices. The Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) provides developers with APIs, tools, documentation, and code samples that enable users to effortlessly incorporate new skills.
Key components of an Alexa skill include:
- Invocation Name: The name that users say to activate the skill, like “Alexa, open Uber.”
- Intents: Actions the user wants to perform, like booking a ride or getting a fare estimate.
- Utterances: Sample spoken phrases that map to intents.
- Slots: Variables users provide to complete actions, like location.
- Interaction Model: Defines language understanding – intents, utterances, slots.
- Endpoint: The web service that handles intent requests and returns responses.
Alexa skills can be built for almost any voice experience using ASK APIs for key capabilities:
- Custom skills use a custom interaction model you define and lambda functions you host.
- Smart home skills let users control smart devices with Alexa.
- Flash briefing skills provide content for Alexa’s flash briefing feature.
- Alexa Presentation Language (APL) allows you to build visual interfaces for devices with screens.
Understanding these core Alexa skill concepts is key foundation for the Alexa Skill Builder certification.
Exam Objectives and Format
The Alexa Skill Builder certification exam is designed to validate a developer’s expertise in building skills using ASK and AWS services. Key exam objectives include:
- Voice-first design practices and capabilities
- Skill architecture patterns, including hosting, security, compliance
- Developing custom skills, smart home skills, flash briefings
- Testing, troubleshooting, and debugging skills
- Certifying, publishing, managing skills in the developer console
The exam has 65 multiple-choice and multiple-answer questions that must be completed within 170 minutes. It is administered at supervised AWS testing centers and through online proctoring.
The exam covers a broad range of skill-building topics across skill types, so thorough preparation across all objectives is important for success. Hands-on experience creating skills using ASK is highly recommended.
Exam Registration and Pricing
You can register for the exam on the AWS certification website. The exam cost is $100 USD, but discounted exam vouchers may be available.
Registration requires an AWS account and signing up for an AWS Certification ID if you don’t already have one. This ID will be used to track exam attempts and certification status after passing.
The Alexa Skill Builder exam can be taken online from anywhere or at in-person testing centers in many countries. Online proctored exams allow you to take the exam remotely while being monitored by a proctor via webcam.
In-person exams are also available at PSI testing centers worldwide. You can select a nearby testing center during registration. Scheduling exams in advance is recommended to secure your preferred date, time, and location.
Preparing for the Exam
Proper preparation is key to maximize your likelihood of passing the Alexa Skill Builder certification exam. Here are some recommendations for getting ready:
- Review the exam guide thoroughly to understand all topic areas covered:
- Voice design principles
- Alexa features and capabilities
- Skill architecture patterns
- Custom, smart home, and flash briefing skills
- Skill testing, troubleshooting
- Certification, publishing, analytics
- Developer console management
- Study ASK documentation and API references for building skills
- Start with ASK Get Started guides to build your first skills
- Learn about interaction models, endpoints, hosting options
- Study how to build custom skills, smart home skills, flash briefings
- Understand account linking, in-skill purchasing, APL
- Review security, compliance and certification requirements
- Take AWS skill-building courses like those on AWS Training or LinkedIn Learning to reinforce concepts
- Build multiple skills of different types using ASK APIs, Lambda, DynamoDB
- Read AWS whitepapers like “Building Voice Experiences with Alexa”
- Review sample questions to understand the exam format and question style
- Take practice exams to evaluate your knowledge and identify gaps
- Join AWS and Alexa developer communities to learn from others
A combination of studying documentation, building skills, taking courses, and practicing questions is the best way to prepare for the Alexa certification exam.
What to Expect On Exam Day
Here are some tips for exam day:
- Arrive early at the testing center to get settled in and review notes.
- Read questions carefully – twice if needed. Make sure you understand what each one is asking.
- Manage time wisely. Don’t get stuck on one question. Flag tricky questions to come back to.
- Use the process of elimination on multiple-choice questions to rule out incorrect answers.
- Don’t leave any questions blank – make an educated guess if needed. There are no penalties for guessing.
- Take breaks if offered to rest your brain. Get up, stretch, and grab some water.
- Trust your preparation. You’ve put in the work, now it’s time to demonstrate your knowledge.
Relax, take your time, and do your best. With diligent preparation, you’ll be ready to pass the exam.
Alexa Skill Builder Certification Benefits
Earning the Alexa Skill Builder certification validates your expertise in creating voice-first experiences on Alexa. Key benefits include:
- Professional development – Gain skills and knowledge highly valued in the job market.
- Career advancement – Distinguish yourself and get noticed by employers.
- Higher earning potential – Increase opportunities and negotiate better salaries.
- Industry recognition – Become an AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder.
- Alexa Champion program eligibility – Gain access to AWS resources and support.
- Expanded opportunities – Work on Alexa projects and speak at Alexa conferences.
- Customer trust – Give your skills credibility by highlighting your certification.
- Personal achievement – Achieve a respected certification that advances your career.
For developers who want to demonstrate Alexa skill-building proficiency, the certification can provide many professional and personal benefits.
Maintaining Certification
The Alexa Skill Builder certification is valid for two years from the date achieved. To renew, you must re-take and pass the exam again. To keep your skills current, be sure to release new exam versions.
You can keep skills sharp by:
- Continuing to build new Alexa skills using the latest ASK features
- Attending Alexa developer events and training
- Participating in the Alexa developer community
- Reading Alexa blogs, documentation, and whitepapers
- Watching Alexa re:Invent videos
Re-certifying shows ongoing expertise and also allows you to stay up-to-date on the latest Alexa capabilities as the platform rapidly evolves.
Conclusion
Creating an engaging and optimized Alexa skill is a complex process requiring expertise across multiple domains. The Alexa Skill Builder certification validates this expertise, demonstrating proficiency in core skill-building concepts.
As we have seen, successfully developing skills involves comprehension of key Alexa capabilities like intents, slots, endpoints, and interaction models. Architecting skills also require knowledge of cloud services, including AWS Lambda, DynamoDB, and S3, for hosting voice experiences at scale.
Testing and certifying skills for publishing in the Alexa Skills Store demands adherence to Amazon’s strict requirements and guidelines. Analytics and monetization allow skill builders to track performance and generate revenue once live.
Throughout the skill lifecycle, following best practices around conversation design, voice user experience, security, and compliance is critical. Expert skills combine these elements into seamless, delightful voice apps.
Gaining this breadth of Alexa expertise takes dedication through building multiple skills, studying ASK APIs, taking courses, and practicing questions. But the effort pays dividends in career advancement, industry recognition, and new opportunities.
Whether developing skills professionally or as a hobby, the Alexa Skill Builder certification validates specialized skill building knowledge. For developers seeking to demonstrate Alexa proficiency, it has become a respected credential.
With the rapid growth of voice interfaces, certified skill builders have a bright future. Their expertise in crafting engaging voice-first experiences on Alexa will only increase in value.
