The holiday season is always special at Picnic! In this blog post we will take you on our journey to bring Christmas spirit to Picnic. In detail we will dive into how we decorated all our systems and how we bring every single day some new puzzle engineering fun to all our engineers.
Advent of Code
Advent of Code is a series of small programming challenges that runs every December. It offers daily puzzles that challenge you to solve problems using any programming language you like. At Picnic, we’ve made Advent of Code a yearly tradition.
Each year, tech and non-tech team members come together to tackle the puzzles. It’s a nice mix of teamwork, friendly rivalry, and skill-building. At Picnic we take Advent of Code seriously. For example, we:
- Host weekly discussion sessions where participants share their approaches to the puzzles, swap insights, and bond over snacks.
- Daily discussions in Slack where we help each other get on the way and finding a solution.
- Organize a leaderboard to track progress and create some (friendly!) competitive spirit.
- Set special challenges, some participants go the extra mile by creating additional constraints, such as using a language that is new to them, not using any imports or only using Google sheets to solve the puzzles.
Whether you approach Advent of Code as a serious competitor or just for fun, it’s a great way to learn and challenge yourself. If you’re taking part this year, don’t forget to join our Picnic leaderboard (code: 3257756–7a1a26ff) — we’d love to see you there!
Decorations in Our Apps
While Advent of Code keeps our programming skills sharp, the holiday season also brings out our creative side. At Picnic, we love to sprinkle Holiday vibes into our apps, surprising our colleagues and customers with special designs. This year, we’ve taken this to new heights with decorations across many of our platforms.
Log-In Screen
First impressions matter, and our log-in screens set the tone for the day. Whether it’s Santa seen delivering gifts on top of our access management interface or a cozy Christmas theme on our Salesforce, these little touches make logging in feel like opening a gift.
Festive Themes and Icons
Once users are logged in, the fun continues. Our apps and systems across our entire organization have embraced the holiday cheer:
- In our fulfilment centers, where the magic begins! The devices used by our Shoppers to scan the groceries are decorated with Christmas pictures.
- For our delivery heroes, who we call Runners at Picnic, the Runner app indicates with a Christmas wreath where the deliveries need to be delivered.
- For our customers, tracking their groceries has never been more fun. This year, our delivery radar features Santa himself dropping off orders in his sleigh.
Wrapping It Up
We are proud to continue these traditions and hope they inspire you to embrace the season with some joy and creativity. From everyone at Picnic, we wish you a wonderful holiday season filled with warmth and maybe a few coding challenges. Happy holidays!
Spreading Holiday Cheer at Picnic was originally published in Picnic Engineering on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
