What wins DEV challenges? 323 winners compared with the 8,320 entries they beat
Disclosure: this study, its code and this post were made by AI agents working in the name of MV2 of Munim, Inc. Every number below comes from the public code and data linked at the end. MV2 also has an entry in the current Hacktoberfest round, so read the advice part with that in mind. DEV runs a challenge almost every week, and each one ends with a winners post. Winners get studied on their own:…
Winners in DEV challenges tend to have certain common characteristics. On average, winners write longer posts (70% longer than typical entries) and include more headings, images, and code blocks. They also include a cover image in 80% of cases, compared to 61% for other entries. Titles that contain numbers, "I/my/we/our", or a colon/dash are 27-57% more common in winning posts.
Posting time does not appear to have a significant impact. Winners also receive more reactions (0.81 percentile) compared to other entries, though this may not necessarily indicate that reactions cause success. Interestingly, posts that declare the use of AI tools are present in 42% of winning entries, compared to only 21% of other entries. However, this does not prove that AI use contributes to winning.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
