I'd like to give my boyfriend a coding-related birthday experience, and I'm open to paying an entry fee or buying a subscription. He has participated in university coding challenges before and has also used Hack The Box and TryHackMe, so something involving programming puzzles, cybersecurity labs, or capture-the-flag competitions could be a good fit. I'm not familiar with these platforms myself, so I'd appreciate suggestions for challenges, events, or gift subscriptions. If subscriptions are recommended, I'd also like to know whether one can be purchased as a gift or transferred to his existing account.
3 Answers
An online capture-the-flag competition could be a great present if you can find one suited to his experience level. The events differ quite a bit: some focus on web security, while others include cryptography, reverse engineering, forensics, or general programming. Checking what kinds of challenges he has enjoyed recently will help you choose an appropriate event or subscription.
A paid subscription to Hack The Box or TryHackMe would probably be the safest choice since he already knows and enjoys those platforms. Their paid tiers unlock additional labs and challenges. PentesterLab and Root Me are also worth considering if you want to introduce him to something similar but new. It’s best to check whether the subscription can be assigned directly to another account, since transferring a subscription after purchase may not be supported.
For programming puzzles, Advent of Code is a popular option, especially if his birthday is near the end of the year. It has a daily puzzle format and is free, so it may work better as an activity than as a paid gift. Other challenge platforms include Everybody Codes, Protohackers, Kattis, and AtCoder, with different mixes of algorithmic problems and practical programming tasks.
He has taken part in a capture-the-flag event before. Do these events vary much, and would signing him up for another one make sense?