Competitive Programmers' Dilemma

Revision en12, by sevens, 2017-06-18 09:22:48

Hello guys,

I decided to use a fake account for this post. I want to talk about a problem I am facing, which I guess might be common among many people in this community.

I am a junior year student in university and I am doing a summer internship at a reputed tech company. I find my job tremendously boring; Most of my day to day work is reading lots of documentation and implementing things. The hardest part of work is to make sure my code sits well within the existing framework.

I don't find this job exciting at all, but it pays really well. I have student loans and I pay them off by doing such internship every year. My past internships have been equally boring. My question to you is, what would you suggest to someone like me for the future?

To give some context, I am a mediocre competitive programmer. My actual CodeForces rating is around 1900-2000 and I haven't gone to ICPC World Finals or IOI. Even outside the competitive programming world, my problem-solving skills are very mediocre. However, I am very interested in algorithms and mathematics. I would like to do research (PhD) after university, but I don't think I am smart enough.

I can see two possibilities for myself:

  • Get high paying job as software developer. Accept the fact that it is boring.
  • Try research (Probably fail and lose years).

Is there any other option? What should I do?

History

 
 
 
 
Revisions
 
 
  Rev. Lang. By When Δ Comment
en12 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:22:48 5 Tiny change: 'round 1900 and I h' -> 'round 1900-2000 and I h'
en11 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:22:25 4 Tiny change: 'is around 2000 and I h' -> 'is around 1900 and I h'
en10 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:20:51 15
en9 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:16:29 95
en8 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:15:43 53
en7 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:14:28 46 Tiny change: ' year. My quest' -> ' year. My past internships have been equally boring. My quest'
en6 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:13:33 17 Tiny change: 'r option? ' -> 'r option? What should I do?'
en5 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:12:56 202
en4 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:09:17 16
en3 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:08:54 9 Tiny change: 'n\nI am a final year stud' -> 'n\nI am a junior year stud'
en2 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:08:19 3 Tiny change: ' problem I'm facing, ' -> ' problem I am facing, '
en1 English sevens 2017-06-18 09:08:00 1251 Initial revision (published)