List of hackathons organized by code district in 2018

Attend this Free event presented by Amazon and Code District and dive deep into Amazon’s new devices for smart home, smart screen and developer tools! Also, learn how to build skills for Alexa-enabled devices!  Lucky participants will win a free Amazon Alexa devices.  The perfect holiday gift! About this Event New Device Preview Amazon launched more than 70 new products, features and tools in September alone -- new Echo Auto, Echo Show, Echo Dot, Fire TV Recast and even a wall clock -- as it continues to put Alexa everywhere. See some of these new devices and learn how you can use them to make your home and business smarter and reach new customers with increased capabilities.  Alexa Skill Building Workshop - December 8, 10:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Updated content for new Amazon developer console and new AWS lambda function interface. Alexa is a cloud-based voice service from Amazon and the brain behind tens of millions of devices including the Echo family of devices, FireTV, Fire Tablet, and third-party devices with Alexa built-in. Learn how to build capabilities, or skills, that make Alexa smarter and make everyday tasks faster, easier, and more delightful for customers. Hands-on labs will teach you how to code cool skills for Alexa.  What you will learn: How to build engaging voice experiences Create natural, engaging voice experiences and reach and delight customers through Alexa-enabled devices. How to add visual and touch elements Learn how to design, build, and deploy visually rich experiences to tens of millions of Alexa devices with screens. How to make money with Alexa when you build delightful skills with compelling content.  Hackathon - December 9, 10:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Got a great idea for an Alexa skill? Start building it in this full day Alexa skill hackathon. Skills that are built during this hackathon that pass the Alexa certification test will be published to the Amazon Alexa skills store for anyone to enjoy!  First and Second Prize for Best Skills  First and second place prizes will be awarded. Winners will be selected based on the uniqueness of the skill, creativity and best use of the Alexa Skill Kit especially the use of in-skill purchasing. Prizes will be Alexa-enabled devices!  Pre-requisites For this Event Get a developer account: developer.amazon.com (free) Get an aws account:  aws.amazon.com (free - but CC required for signup) Download sample templates to your desktop: https://github.com/alexa Laptop computer and a willingness to learn

This FREE workshop, presented by Amazon and Code District is intended for anyone interested in learning how to program voice controlled devices.  Amazon Alexa is a great place to start learning. Hands-on labs will teach you how to code cool skills for Alexa. Lucky participants will win a free Amazon devices! Learn Skill Development for the Echo Show Echo devices with a screen, such as Echo Show and Echo Spot, allow skill developers to create skills for Alexa that use both screen and voice interaction. Hands-on labs will teach you how to build Alexa skill for the new Echo Show device using the new video capabilities. What is an Alexa Skill? Alexa is Amazon’s voice service and the brain behind tens of millions of devices like the Echo family of devices including Echo Show and Echo Spot. Skills are like apps for smart phones and tablets. They provide capabilities for Alexa devices. There are now tens of thousands of skills from companies like Starbucks, Uber, and Capital One as well as other innovative designers and developers in the Alexa skill store. Beginning and Advance Skill DevelopmentSaturday, August 18 | 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Attendees will learn about voice user interfaces (VUI) and will gain experience with three services: Amazon’s Alexa Skills Kit, AWS Lambda, and the Node.js backend JavaScript framework. The need for Alexa Skill Developers is growing rapidly, as many companies move toward adding Alexa voice control to their products and services. Now is a great time to begin learning this valuable skill! Skills HackathonSunday, August 19 | 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Got a great idea for an Alexa skill? Start building it in this full day Alexa skill hackathon. Skills that are built during this hackathon that pass the Alexa certification test will be published to the Amazon Alexa skills store for anyone to download! First and Second Prize for Best Skills First and second place prizes will be awarded. Winners will be selected based on the uniqueness of the skill, creativity and best use of the Alexa Skill Kit especially the use of in-skill purchasing.First prize – Amazon Echo ShowSecond prize – Amazon Echo Spot Pre-requisites For this EventGet a developer account: developer.amazon.com (free)Get an aws account:  aws.amazon.com (free - but CC required for signup)Download sample templates to your desktop: https://github.com/alexaRequirements: Laptop computer and a willingness to learn Justin JeffressSenior Solutions Architect, Alexa Hackathons. at AmazonThis event is sponsored by Genuent IT Staffing.  Genuent has openings for software engineers skilled in React, React Native, Node.js.  

If you are dreaming of becoming a Software Engineer in space tech, but don’t know where to start or know what it takes, you will find out in this special Code District session. Today JPL continues its world-leading innovation, implementing programs in planetary exploration, Earth science, space-based astronomy and technology development, while applying its capabilities to technical and scientific problems of national significance. Mars 2020 Subsystem Lead and Full-Stack Software Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Usha Guduri joins us for an informative and exciting talk about her career and more. Experience the excitement of the JPL’s space program first hand from this very successful engineer. Topics Include: The journey to become a Software Engineer How to get hired as a software engineer at JPL IT related roles JPL hires for Internships at JPL Initiatives regarding women in technology Mars 2020 mission and other missions Audience This session is for anyone that is interested in a career at JPL or in space tech in general.Usha Guduri is the Planning and Sequencing Subsystem Manager for the next Mars mission launching in 2020. As a Software Systems Engineer, she also managed and architected several software projects for missions including Cassini, SMAP, and Mars Science Laboratory in the last three years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Over the past couple years she has been working on her own startup: Silent Legends, building games that redefine the Collectible Card genre and leverage the medium to make learning fun and transparent to kids.Ms. Guduri has 15 years experience in Software Development and Technical Leadership - building secure, scalable, and performance-optimized systems to support websites visited by hundreds of thousands of users each month, including several in the TripAdvisor portfolio. As if she cannot find enough to keep her challenged at work, she goes about giving NPOs a Cyber presence in her own time. Ms. Guduri also loves wrangling with data and is known for winning Hackathons with her novel visualizations. During her days off she is generally camping and hiking at one of the National Parks or parked with a good book in hand, and is looking forward to sharing the outdoors with her 18-month old daughter.Ms. Guduri is an alumna of BITS (Pilani), a premier institute in India, and USC's Viterbi School of Engineering.

This workshop, presented by Amazon and Code District is intended for anyone interested in learning how to program voice controlled devices. Amazon Alexa is a great place to start learning. Hands-on labs will teach you how to code cool skills for Alexa. Lucky participants will win a free Amazon device! The need for Alexa Skill Developers is growing rapidly, as many companies move toward adding Alexa voice control to their products and services.   Join Code District and Senior Solution Architect at Amazon and trainer, Justin Jeffress for this 2 day training event. You will learn how to build Alexa skills that reach millions of customers that utilize Alexa-enabled devices, including Amazon Echo, Fire TV and more!  Both seasoned and beginner developers are welcomed and encouraged to participate.  Workshop Dates and Times Saturday, April 21 - Beginning Alexa Skill DevelopmentSunday, April 22 - Advanced Alexa Skill DevelopmentCost: $30.00 for 2 days of expert training from an Amazon Alexa instructorWhat you will learn: Introduction to Alexa Skills Kit How to setup your development environment Introduction to basic concepts like intents, utterances, and slots How to build your first skill The development of template based, custom, smart home and flash briefing skills How to leverage AWS Lambda Best practices for voice user interfaces Complex Conversations Persistent Data Storage State Managment Testing How to set your skill up for successful certification And more! Requirements Be sure to bring your laptop/notebook computer. Get a developer account: developer.amazon.com (free) Get an aws account:  aws.amazon.com (free - but CC required for signup) Download sample templates to your desktop from github.com/amzn/alexa-skills-kit-js   Why Attend?  Take your experience to the next level! Amazon Echo and the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) open new doors of opportunities to build voice-enabled apps without deep knowledge of Natural Language Processing (NLP). This course, Developing Alexa Skills for Amazon Echo, will get you started working with voice-enabled devices.  Justin JeffressSenior Solutions Architect, Alexa Hackathons. at Amazon