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Competitive Coding

Competitive Coding

An Enigma

Aman Jha's photo
Aman Jha
·May 17, 2021·

2 min read

For those of you who are new to programming and don't know what the hell competitive programming is, let me give you a brief introduction.

Competitive Programming is field where your DSA (Data Structures and Algorithms) and problem solving abilities are tested. Basically you're provided a set of questions and have to solve them using your DSA skills with a set efficiency (time and space limit). Plus, you're set against many others like you and the rankings are decided on the basis of the number of questions solved and the total time taken.

So, Competitive Programming (CP) is a sport where you hone your DSA. Just like any other sport you need to learn and implement what you learned on a platform.

CP in itself is a great thing and looking at the pros I'd suggest you to really try it. But how important is CP as compared to other Development skills?

Sorry to break it to you that even if you write that you have 5* on CodeChef or are a master level coder on Codeforces, all it'll do is grab attention of some companies. All that matters is skills to back your ratings. If you somehow reach even higher ratings by hustling and still fail to answer your interviewer's question then you won't get selected.

In today's world proficiency in DSA is needed only at a medium level and not advanced. For some jobs you won't even have to deal with DSA ever in your life except during interview rounds. Companies nowadays are looking for more practical skills like Web Development, App Development, etc. instead of supplementary skills like DSA.

So my advice to all those out there is that you should keep doing Competitive Programming but place more emphasis on developing other skills if you want on-campus placements by the end of your final years. Keep building projects coz those are something which most companies give higher preference to.

Hope that it sated your curiosity about Competitive Programming. If you have any suggestions for me, you can write in the comment section below. And please give your reviews on this blog as well.