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What Amazon's Alexa Economy Pays the People Building Its Skills (cnet.com)
From a report on CNET: On a lark, Joel Wilson started developing skills for Alexa, Amazon's voice assistant, this past January. After a few weeks of coding, he launched two skills -- Amazon's term for voice-controlled apps -- called Question of the Day and Three Questions. Both quiz people on science, literature and pop culture trivia. In May, he got an email from Amazon telling him to expect a check in the mail as part of a new program that pays cash to makers of popular skills. That first month, Amazon sent him $2,000. It got better from there. He's received checks for $9,000 over each of the past three months, he said. Wilson unexpectedly joined a new Alexa economy, a small but fast-growing network of independent developers, marketing companies and Alexa tools makers. Two years ago, there wasn't nearly as much to do on Alexa and the market for making Alexa skills was worth a mere $500,000. Now, with more than 25,000 skills available, the market is expected to hit $50 million in 2018, according to analytics firm VoiceLabs.
whooooooooo carrrrrrrres
I wouldn't exactly call $9k per month pocket change.
$9K/mo is not exactly "shitty pay", mister 1%-er.
If building skills for Alexa is where the money is, that's where people will go. The phone app ecosystem is overcrowded and hard to stand out. Alexa skills aren't yet: you can still do alright there.
That price will drop once the flood of Chinese, India, and Filipinos cash in on the action....perhaps paid in BTC too.
Life is not for the lazy.
Don’t worry. It’ll drop a couple of magnitudes soon enough.
Napoleon D. offers some insight on the topic of skills.
Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
It will be soon enough when the skills glut happens and most people will be lucky to make a tiny fraction of that amount.
For longer than he'll keep spending time creating those skills. That's not bad. I'm expected to keep producing every single work day if I want to keep getting paid.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
For no healthcare, no superannuation, no benefits.... itâ(TM)s shitty pay dude.
For a side gig? For royalties on something you've already created? Seems pretty good to me. I don't get paid anything for code I've already written. My boss is hooked on me creating NEW code ALL THE TIME!
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Obviously. But not well. 50M is laughable.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I would be fine with this, if he isn't ranting to stop the funding of these "socialist" universities.
Could you provide a link to whatever the heck you are talking about? I Googled for several minutes and found absolutely nothing about Jeff advocating for reduced scientific research funding. To the contrary, he seems to be very pro-science, pro-education, and generally supportive of progressive policies.
Now you can work for Amazon
He is not "working for Amazon". He is operating an independent business that uses the Amazon Echo platform. He can take the same content and put it on Google Home and Apple HomePod.
really shitty pay!
$9k/mo ($108k/yr) for a part time side job is not "shitty pay".
These voice servants just have no real utility for me. Yes, it's exciting to use my voice to turn off my lights, but frankly my remote control I prefer. Guess I just don't understand the joy of asking them for the weather forecast, tell a joke, or read a recipe. I went through a list of top Alexa skills, not one was of any use that I could see...
It's useful to think about the real numbers here:
The most successful independent developer CNET interviewed made about $30k off his two skills over a one year period (not a steady $9k/month).
The low end of independent skill writing was some amazon server credit for two years of work.
The high end of paid skill writing was $100k for a skill, and that's for the guy who worked on developing Alexa and left to start a company writing skills for companies wanting smart advertisements on the system. The low end of paid skill writing was $300 with a $100/month upkeep fee.
Much is made of the $9000/month (!!!!) the independent guy brought in briefly, but the best money here is in writing the smart advertisements for a set fee.
This shit is priceless. Reddit cant hold a candle.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
Bitcoin crashed in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017. It will crash again in 2019, 2022, 2027 and 2034.
#DeleteFacebook
Get real. Public policy, not individuals sharing data, is responsible for the great hollowing out of the once-prosperous American software industry.
DUH LAW demands free international movement of capital but not free movement of labor. Therefore American wages steadily decline in a furious race to the bottom.
The various "Quantitative Easing" programs have pumped untold billions into the coffers of well-connected Venture Capital oligarchs. Therefore said oligarchs have come to totally dominate the software industry. Their companies turn a handsome loss for years on end, driving all legitimate competitors out of business.
The inbred silverspoon VC oligarchs cannot be bothered to hide their contempt for working people. They actively seek the proletarianization of software workers, the destruction of all remnants of craftsmanship and independence.
The good people your deride as "pirates" have done nothing to harm our industry. They are decent honest patriots exercising the charitable Christian impulse to give and share. That badlaws make sharing illegal is a condemnation of those badlaws, not of the good men and women who defy them.
And I want a pony!
Really? I really feel some people here are extremely out of touch with what most people make. That, or they work some government job and is used to those benefits not counting against their pay
I make around 60,000. That's before the money taken out for healthcare and my other benefits. And that's not a complaint. I make enough to support my family, make my house and car payments as well as my other bills. In fact, I'd probably have a pretty good nest egg if I would (re)gain control of my spending habits by simply eliminating fast food.
Granted the cost of living in San Antonio is lower than most places but then my wage reflects that. Same job, same company, pays allot more in other states.
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