• Newbie — Trainee
• Pupil & Specialist — Cook/Cashier
• Expert — Trainer
• Candidate Master — Supervisor
• Master — Manager
• International Master — Assistant General Manager
• Grandmaster — General Manager
• International Grandmaster — Regional Manager
• Legendary Grandmaster — Director of Operations

It's that magical time of the year and as you all know MikeMirzayanov allows users to change the color of their handles. I noticed some high rated people changed their colors to teal, green, or even gray I don't understand it. Why would anyone change their color to be a lower rank? Is it so that when I'm competing and see lots of gray people beating me I can feel terrible about myself, only to find out they were master or grandmaster...

Anyway please downvote upvote! or don't, I don't really care.

--Happy Coding!

When someone who has never written a computer program asks you "what is competitive programming?" how do you respond?

I usually find myself saying some variation of: "You're solving a puzzle by giving instructions to a computer."

I feel my response is inadequate and doesn't provide a very good description of what competitive programming actually is.

I'm curious what you guys say when asked this question.