Fresh snow outside. Warm lights inside. The quiet days between Christmas and New Year stretch ahead like a blank canvas. You've got time between celebrations, and your mind is already reaching for something to build.
Why not enhance your skills in 12 Days of Coding challenge — a festive journey created for Hyperskill learners that runs from December 25th through January 5th? It's part puzzle, part celebration, and entirely about rediscovering the joy of programming during the most magical time of year.
Why I Built This
The holidays are a unique time. Everyone slows down, but our minds don't. I wanted to create something for those quiet moments between family gatherings, when you're sipping cocoa and feel like solving something elegant. Not a work project. Not a deadline. Just pure problem-solving for the love of it.
This challenge is my gift to the community: 12 days of puzzles that make you think, smile, and remember why you fell in love with code in the first place.
The Countdown Tradition
There's something special about counting down days during the holidays. Advent calendars, New Year's Eve countdowns — we mark time differently in these weeks. Each day feels significant. Each challenge in this series follows that rhythm, building momentum as we transition from one year to the next.
Who Is This For?
This challenge is for developers who want to stay sharp during the break without the pressure of real work. Maybe you're on vacation. Maybe you're between projects. Maybe you just enjoy a good puzzle with your morning coffee.
The difficulty curve is gentle but rewarding. If you can write a for-loop and understand basic logic, you can solve every single challenge. Some might take longer than others, but that's part of the journey.
What I Hope You'll Get From It
I want you to close your laptop after each challenge feeling satisfied. That "aha!" moment when the solution clicks. That reminder that programming can be playful, creative, and deeply rewarding outside of sprint planning and code reviews.
Plus, complete all 12 days and you'll earn an exclusive profile cover, gems, and maybe even some secret rewards from our partners, which I won't reveal just yet.
The Technical Side
I built everything in Python because it's my comfort zone, but I deliberately designed each challenge to be language-agnostic. Whether you're a JavaScript developer, a Java enthusiast, or exploring something new like Rust or Go — the logic works everywhere.
Use whatever tools make you happy. Your IDE, our playground, a text editor and terminal. This is your challenge, your way.
A Peek Behind the Curtain
Special little spoiler for dev.to readers: we're going full algorithm crash course mode this year. Await tasks that rely on the most popular computational theory questions. Good for refreshing your knowledge from that one CompSci class you completely forgot about! Can't wait to see you rebuilding Dijkstra's algorithm in your favorite language.
How to Join
If this sounds like your kind of holiday tradition, here's how to start:
- Sign up to Hyperskill - https://hyperskill.org
- Find 12 Days of Coding Challenge in My Learning or your Study Plan and begin with Day 1
- Join our Discord community and visit the #12-days-of-coding channel for hints and camaraderie
- Code in any language that brings you joy — use your favorite setup or try our playground
- Most importantly: enjoy the journey!
Happy coding, and happy holidays!🎄
Top comments (0)