Code Katas

(image from Danny Lincoln)

There are many ways to grow your software engineering skills. Learning algorithms, building tools, creating websites, crafting games.

Earn Engineering Honor

One method I've been enjoying lately is participating in codewars.com.

You earn honor by solving problems ("Katas") and contributing to the community. Some Katas take 15 minutes to solve, some require researching the internet and paging through your favorite algorithm book.

The gamified platform provides a web-based editor, a test framework and thousands of problems to choose from.

Want to learn JavaScript, Python, Go or Elixir? Katas exist for 50+ languages.

Once you've solved a problem, you unlock all the solutions that others created. You learn a lot from all the various approaches.

Monthly Code Katas

This is even more fun when run as a social event.

I participating in a "Code Katas" session hosted by the SeattleJS Hackers Meetup. This is now a 100% remote event anyone can attend via Zoom -- the March 2020 event was the first one held remotely due to COVID-19.

Here's how it works:

In addition to having fun participating, you've earned some honor on Codewars along the way.

Next Steps

To find the next scheduled "Code Katas" event, visit the SeattleJS Hackers Meetup. If latest event not yet posted, here's the March 2020 meetup as an example of what to expect.

In-between events, keep working away on new challenges at home or with others.

I look forward to seeing you on Codewars.

badge for codewars.com/users/briangershon