I am an Indian college student who's gonna go into third year and I am contemplating to suicide. I started CP 6 months back and the only progress I Have made so far is solving problems <=1000 And the max I can solve while giving contests is Div 2A and that's why I am still grey.
Considering the big loser I am , I try to give a lot of efforts and work hard on my problem solving skills but the results aren't satisfying at all! Read many articles/blog regarding ways of practising CP,how to get better in problem solving skills but I feel nothing is worth the effort for me!
Some would say to stop doing CP and try out something else , but then I am genuinely interested in CP (yes the greed for cracking big product bases companies is there) but that's not only the case, I really want to do it!
Life does not end at CP but I have really worked hard in the past 6 months, and I feel there's nothing much more I can do it. Ending life just for the sake of CP might seem silly to a lot many out there,but then it actually hurts when your friends who started late are now climbing the ladders of Expert and CM.
Probably CP wasn't for me and still isn't but I would really want to know some experiences of similar type and how did people cope up later on!
I am a newbie with rating close to 1000 and have solved almost around 300+ problems most of them being of DIV2A
ANONYMOUS
Become either green or cyan(and have exposure to dp/graphs too). and search on internet the must to do questions for product based. There is no need to become expert/CM.
I will give you an analogy and it might help.
You are a college student from India and entering your 3rd year. Here's the thing.
Considering suicide for low performance in cp is similar to committing suicide for not scoring well in 10th class.
You will agree with me that committing suicide for bad performance in school is very foolish( I am sorry if someone is hurt but its true).
You know that 10th grade certificate in India has almost no value beside acting as a birth certificate for us now. But had you thought like this at that time. NO!. Reason : because we are not able to see our life 5 years down the line.
5 years from now. You won't even be bothered with it. Do you know many students in India leave cp as soon as after graduating and get on with more real-life applications of software development. That's what happens most. You wouldn't be even doing it 5 years from now.
So don't bother with it. Chill. Take a break. Try to find something else that you might like. And probably return after sometime with more motivation and freshness.
This worked for me!. I was performing poorly consecutively. I just took a break and after 3-4 months I came back with more energy and more motivation and started performing better than before.
Don't think about giving up your life for something so small and irrelevant in comparison to your breath.
Well i started cp 2 years ago but still i am just cyan.but i dont feel like committing sucide.If u are intersted u should continue.keep solving problems.something better will happen someday . u can follow competetive programming 3(steven halim & felix halim) https://www.academia.edu/36637031/Competitive_Programming_3.pdf
First of all: Don't give up.
If something has taught me the competitive programming was not to give up. Your 6 months is very little time to give up, 6 months after starting in Competitive Programming I am sure that my rating would be less than 1000, only that I started in codeforces some time later, and even so, two years later I could be CM. I am also in the third year of high school, and even though I have had lows I have not given up, at first it is always difficult, but it becomes easier with the days.
You still have a lot of time to improve, especially at university, you may not reach the IOI, but there is still the Google CodeJam, Facebook Hackercup or even go to an ICPC World Final.
Most people go through potholes along the way, but the real challenge is to keep going, and if you really like competitive programming don't do it by comparing yourself to other people, compare yourself and see what you will improve over time.
An example for which you should not give up is awoo, I may be wrong, but just look at its rating table, after a year it was gray, and today it is red and one of the best problemsetters that exists.
I trust that you will be able to go ahead and achieve your goals.
I genuinely want to enjoy CP and I have been enjoying it for quite some time but then the past month hasn't gone in a positive way! I know 6 months is too short to judge and maybe I am over-reacting but then I feel I haven't done something that is motivating me to continue! I come to CF everyday, try problems with 1100 and almost for every second/third problem I open up the editorial!
I hope to follow your advice and I'll try to work harder! Thank you once again
Some would say to stop doing CP and try out something else, but then I am genuinely interested in CPIf you are really interested in coding(not CP), there's a 100% chance you will crack some SWE interviews. Just keep learning, if you're not that good in CP, keep pushing yourself, don't take these contests serious now, just keep improving your knowledge, master any specific language and you'll see the results! Suicide is never an option for failure, you've come so far don't look back!(https://wallpapercave.com/w/wp6157139) ...
Take a brake bro.maybe for a week or so.when you feel good and refreshed then probably you come back to cp. Cp is always easier when you have a number of approaches to solve a problem and for that you need a fresh mind. I am not great at cp now but this works for me. Consider taking the brake.
I don't understand why you are using a fake account to post this blog, but still, no one can help you much without knowing about the nature of the problems you have solved, but the pressure to solve a problem may actually prevent you from fully focusing on the problem, you are here to improve your problem solving skills and not just for rating, in that case focus on the problem and not on the rating.
There isn't much of a strategy, I have one simple method, I fix an "enemy" whom I want to defeat, so I stalk him, solve all problems he has solved and upsolve all the contests he has particpated, your problem solving ability highly depends on what you have already solved, you both would have similar problem solving experience, hence so would be your ability.
Choose a person who is just above your skill, there is no use in choosing a red coder, as it would only demotivate you.
Life does not end at CP but I have really worked hard in the past 6 months
I definitely understand that , Many people might say that quit CP , It is not everything , Try something new
But....
When you put your Blood Sweat and tears into something , It becomes like a child to you , and you cannot leave your child to die even if you can't take care of it , because at the end of the day , It is a part of you....
Similarly , If something (like CP) becomes a part of you , than you just cannot quit , because if you quit than it kind of leaves an empty space in your heart that nothing else can fill...
Here's an idea: Start doing problems on a more user-friendly site as hackerrank(solve medium level problems there). Once you find hackerrank boring, try an online judge(Example SPOJ). Once you get bored of SPOJ, try participating in codechef long challenge. Try shuffling among all the above ones as you get bored of any one. Also, try to get a break from CP if you are too tired of it.
You have practice 300+ problems. Seriously, I think this is not enough and you have solved A problem (wtf) and you are expecting to be good at CP. Hey, let me tell you one thing CP is a failure it's all the game of failure CP tells you how to tackle failure.
Just enjoy CP don't look at the rating (Once you start enjoying everything will be good).