Who survived 30 days of Postman?
When I first learned to code, I attempted HackerRank’s 30 days of coding to better understand data structure fundamentals. For each challenge, you could see the number of submissions along with the success rate. When I looked at that data in aggregate, I was shocked to see how few people stuck with the challenge for all 30 days. Only 8.2% made it to the very last day.
A few months ago, I created a similar coding challenge: 30 days of Postman — for developers.
Over the course of 30 (asynchronous) days, you fork the daily challenge to your own workspace and check your solutions locally. At the end, submit your final solution as a pull request to be reviewed by the Postman team. Accepted solutions get you a badge and you join the public leaderboard.
In the back of my mind even while I was planning the topics, I wondered how many people would get through the entire thing. I didn’t want it to be too hard or too easy. I also wanted it to cover useful stuff, but without being too dry and boring.
Let’s take a look at how many lasted until the end.
Who stuck with it for 30 days?
It all starts with Day 1 (the second bar in the graph below). You see a steep drop-off in the first few days as people stopped progressing. Perhaps they had bitten off more than they could chew or the challenge just wasn’t for them.
Then the decline continues more gradually. People eventually give up (or are still working through their challenges). Of the people who I imagine had some intention of completing all the challenges by forking the challenge on Day 1, only 11.2% of them made it to the very last day and submitted a successful pull request.
Did I make it too hard?
I don’t think so. This challenge falls in my goldilocks-approved target of difficulty — not too hard and not too easy. Novice developers may struggle with some of the core coding execution, but I don’t lose sleep over that for two main reasons.
- The documentation includes dozens of solutions, easily discoverable if people are diligent about reviewing the instructions and cited resources.
- Learning how to use the internet or community forum to seek help is a valuable skill used by professional developers.
Making an easier version of the 30 day challenge would be a disservice to the 11.2% who completed the challenge and claimed their badge.
If you think you have what it takes, there is still time to check out 30 days of Postman — for developers. And stick with it until at least Day 3, then you’ll already be ahead of the curve.
