With every potential AI advancement lies a hidden challenge: a weak data foundation that can lead to wasted resources, hinder decision making, and make it difficult to innovate. Enter Azure Cosmos DB, a database for the era of AI that provides the speed, scalability, and reliability needed to power the next generation of intelligent applications. Azure Cosmos DB is a pivotal component for creating intelligent solutions—like OpenAI’s ChatGPT—that get to market faster and deliver exceptional user experiences.

In this blog, we’ll not only reveal the wealth of learning resources we offer to get skilled on Azure Cosmos DB, but how by doing so you can take home part of a $10,000 prize in our Microsoft Developers AI Learning Hackathon.

Is your interest piqued? Then let’s get into it.

Azure Cosmos DB is a critical component to build your AI app

Azure Cosmos DB plays a crucial role in powering AI-enabled intelligent applications, offering several indispensable benefits:

• Build scalable applications. Fuel your apps with high-performance, distributed computing over massive volumes of NoSQL and vector data. Azure offers several options to fit your needs: Start small and pay only for what you use with serverless functions, or explore the free tier of Azure Cosmos DB, which is ideal for developing, testing, and running small production workloads.

• AI-ready. Azure Cosmos DB simplifies AI apps by storing and querying vectors and data efficiently using a serverless vector database. It supports copilot apps with NoSQL data, and will be able to generate queries by asking questions using natural language. It also makes it easy to bring your data to Microsoft Azure OpenAI models.
• Real-time apps. Azure Cosmos DB powers personalized and intelligent applications and AI models with real-time data, ingested and processed at any scale with <10 millisecond (ms) latency. It works with languages and frameworks of your choice, such as Python, Node.js, and Java.
• Secure and highly available. Stay compliant with enterprise-ready, multi-layer security across data and apps, get industry-leading, service-level-agreement-backed 99.999% availability for NoSQL data, and easily recover and restore critical data with flexible options for continuous backup and point-in-time restore.

Gain real-world experience with a chance at big prizes

The Microsoft Developers AI Learning Hackathon is an exciting opportunity for developers to explore the world of AI and build innovative applications using Azure Cosmos DB. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or a curious newcomer, this hackathon welcomes participants of all backgrounds and skill levels.

By taking part, you’ll gain valuable experience working with cutting-edge Microsoft Azure AI tools and learn from Microsoft experts through workshops and mentorship sessions. You also have the optional challenge of leveraging Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB to integrate AI into your or your team’s application. The top contenders will split $10,000 in prizes and walk away with recognition in the developer community.

The Microsoft Developers AI Learning Hackathon is already in full swing, but AI app submissions will be accepted until 5:00 PM PDT on June 17, 2024, with winners announced on July 1, 2024! 

Kick off your Azure Cosmos DB learning journey

Before you can unleash your creativity with Azure Cosmos DB for a shot at that prize money, there are a few prerequisites to complete in order to join the hackathon. Let’s take a look at the roadmap to take you from AI novice to AI authority.

Azure Cosmos DB Developer Cloud Skills Challenge

As a run-up to the event, we’ve created a pair of free Azure Cloud Skills Challenges to walk you through the basics of Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cosmos DB, and eventually how to build an AI copilot with Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB.

Azure Cloud Skills Challenges are part interactive learning sprint, part good-natured competition between you and peers around the globe. These immersive, gamified experiences are a blend of hands-on exercises, tutorials, and assessments to ensure a well-rounded learning experience.

Part one of the Azure Cosmos DB Developer Cloud Skills Challenge consists of four modules and can be completed in under three hours. This challenge is where you’ll be introduced to Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Cosmos DB, and learn the basics for building copilots and natural language solutions.

Part two walks you through building an AI copilot with Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB, a fully managed MongoDB-compatible database that seamlessly integrates with the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. This part of the challenge can be completed in under four hours.

After completing both challenges—which are available now through June 18, 2024—you’ll earn a badge which must be submitted to join the hackathon.

GitHub Azure OpenAI developer guides

You know all about GitHub—it’s part version control system, part social network, part collaboration platform for building software together. This central hub for development projects not only fosters a collaborative environment where developers can learn from each other, but also is your next stop on the road to entering the Microsoft Developers AI Learning Hackathon.

After conquering both parts of the Azure Cosmos DB Developer Cloud Skills Challenge, you should have a solid foundation of understanding the tools and techniques to start building an AI-enabled app. But these two GitHub Azure OpenAI developer guides—one for Python, one for Node.js—are all-inclusive resources that take you step by step through the process of building an intelligent app.

Depending on your preferred language, you must complete at least one of the free developer guides to take part in the hackathon. Each guide takes about four weeks to complete.

Join Microsoft Reactor to engage with developers live

Looking for a little facetime with an Azure expert to ask questions and seek guidance? Join us for a free, live Microsoft Reactor event that will go into detail on everything covered in the Azure Cosmos DB Developer Cloud Skills Challenge. This two-part webinar provides practical insights and valuable experiences to help you build intelligent, AI-enabled apps efficiently on Azure.

The “Learn to Build Your Own AI Apps with Azure Cosmos DB” livestream starts at 9:00 AM PDT on May 1, 2024, with part two continuing at the same time on May 15, 2024. Participation is not required to join the hackathon but is highly recommended!

Take advantage of these all-new Azure Cosmos DB training modules

But wait, there’s more! We’ve also just launched a new self-paced learning path that supplements both the Azure Cosmos DB Developer Cloud Skills Challenge and the GitHub Azure AI developer guides. Over the course of four lessons—under four hours total—you’ll learn how to implement and migrate to vCore-based Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB, manage a cluster, and build your own AI copilot with Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB and Azure OpenAI.

Register today and start hacking!

Ready to push the boundaries of what’s possible? Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to level up your AI skills, network with fellow developers, and potentially win big! Head over to the Microsoft Developers AI Learning Hackathon page to register and get started today.

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About Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Cosmos DB is a fully managed and serverless distributed database for modern app development, with SLA-backed speed and availability, automatic and instant scalability, and support for open-source PostgreSQL, Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB, and Apache Cassandra. Try Azure Cosmos DB for free here. To stay in the loop on Azure Cosmos DB updates, follow us on X, YouTube, and LinkedIn.