Jane Street puzzles

Hi, how do I get good at puzzles posted on Jane Street website ? I think knowing programming would be a good start, for example last month's puzzle (What a trit)

I spent a lot of time trying to 'manually' solve it and excel but it would have been much more efficient if I knew programming.
But other than programming, I am really not sure, for example this month(Study & Ponder),
After thinking really hard, I don't even know where to start, let alone trying to figure out a solution systematically.

Any advice please (not on the specific puzzle but in general for puzzles like these) ?

Thanks