Game Development
One of the ways I try to practice and strengthen my real-world coding ability is to make small video game prototypes, primarily in GameMaker. Although GML or "GameMaker Language" isn't particularly useful outside of GameMaker, it is the perfect proxy for problem-solving issues that arise through implementation of an idea.
Because GML is less strict and comparable in complexity to a language like JS, it allows for easy prototyping, while still being able to keep up at a high game speed. These features allowed me to participate in several game jams, which are essentially game dev speed runs, generally lasting between a few days to a few weeks.
Here are some of the projects I've made within a few days.