Amr-Fahmy's blog

By Amr-Fahmy, history, 3 years ago, In English

I am starting my last year in university, I used to do competitive programming and practice as much as I can because I love it and also to do well in the ICPC qualifications, which I think it is the general case for university students and school students (IOI).

I am currently worried about not being able to practice after my graduation due to work stuff and things like that specially when there is no motive like ICPC or IOI. However, I believe that there are people who continued practicing after graduation from university, so if any, would you share how and why did you continue practicing? Thank you.

UPD: Thanks for all people who has shared their experience or their opinion, It inspired me a lot and all your words are really appreciated !

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3 years ago, # |
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I am still eligible for ICPC. so we might not stand in the same situation. after graduation I personally plan to treat CP like videogames. Do it if it fun, if you cannot have fun from CP anymore you are welcome to leave anytime you want.

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3 years ago, # |
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I have graduated from university two years ago and have quitted CP for quite some time.

Though recently I come back just for fun and achieved new highest rating lol (in particular I come back because of testing of CF #630).

I no longer practice crazily like what I did for ICPC, but I do practice problem solvings in mind and I guess the only important thing is that that is still fun for me

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3 years ago, # |
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I am currently worried about not being able to practice after my graduation due to work stuff and things like that specially when there is no motive like ICPC or IOI.

Exactly. Competitive Programming is for students (just like IOI and ICPC). Learn to be responsible for your growth and your life (Hint: there are many things in life that you should be more concerned about — e.g. making money to pay your bills). You will automatically not be concerned about Competitive Programming anymore. For that matter, you shouldn't even have time to waste on Competitive Programming.

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
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    You make it sound as if graduates dont have hobbies

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      3 years ago, # ^ |
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      I feel sorry for you if your hobbies are a waste of time. The only people who have the rights to claim that their hobbies are more important than their future are those who have rich parents and those who have high paying job.

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        3 years ago, # ^ |
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        The only people who have the rights to claim that their hobbies are more important than their future are those who have rich parents and those who have high paying job.

        Sad reality XD. :broken_heart_emoji:

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        3 years ago, # ^ |
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        Life is a waste of time anyway :D

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        3 years ago, # ^ |
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        Never said that hobbies are more important than future lol, spending 5/6 hours per week on your hobbies doesnt harm much. As if middle class people didn't own Netflix accounts or play games lmao. You are talking about the people that aren't satisified with their current future. Most humans are not machines like you, if they just worked everytime they'll burn out. Nothing wrong in doing some fun activities.

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          3 years ago, # ^ |
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          You are talking about the people that aren't satisified with their current future. Most humans are not machines like you, if they just worked everytime they'll burn out. Nothing wrong in doing some fun activities.

          I am pretty sure you have never gone hungry before (i.e. typical youth nowadays). That's why you have the energy to think of other stuff. I didn't say that one cannot have hobbies. It is just that certain hobbies are not so useful. Get it?

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            3 years ago, # ^ |
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            I do, but hobbies don't have to be useful....

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              3 years ago, # ^ |
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              Lmao. That's why rich and poor people exist.

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                3 years ago, # ^ |
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                Lmao,you are poor from mind not money.

                I know people with very high income who are suicidal and people with considerable humble income living happily.

                If you define being rich/fortunate with money then you are doomed cause you can always more.

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  But that's exactly my mindset. Could you help me out with it since you seem so confident that money is unnecessary for happiness? Come on, walk the talk. Donate some cash to me.

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  No because sharing money with others does not increase my happiness, and I love wasting money in some special form anyway

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  May lord Buddha cure your illness of the mind, Lance.You will realize the fact on your deathbed or when you grow old.

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            3 years ago, # ^ |
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            Dude hobbies don't have to be useful. Playing games is not useful, going out on trips is not useful, having "fun" is not useful. We do these to be happy. We do "useful things" now to be happy in the future. In the end every living being strives only to be happy and content anyway.

            So If you do useful things(that maybe aren't fun) your whole life, then when will you ever have your turn to be happy?

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              3 years ago, # ^ |
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              So If you do useful things(that maybe aren't fun) your whole life, then when will you ever have your turn to be happy?

              Lmao. As I said, only two groups of people have the right to prioritize hobbies over their future — one is the rich man's child, the other is the one who already has a high paying job.

              If you are born poor, sucks to be you, you are going to have to think of how to escape poverty first and not think about "when is my turn to be happy?" because you would be dead before that happens. Don't understand? Foot all your family's bills. I doubt you will be so smug after that.

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                3 years ago, # ^ |
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                I think you don't get the whole point here. Even poor people indirectly work in order to be happy. To them, whats happiness maybe something trivial for a middle class. To them escaping poverty could mean more happiness than someone getting the job of their dreams.

                And I was never being smug lol, I aknowledge that I'm fortunate to not be born poor, but that doesn't strip me from the right to have fun while I can.

                Also what even is the point you're trying to make? All I get from your thread is "Anyone whose not poor should know their place and not have fun"

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  Lmao. I think you are the one missing the point. The point is — know your priorities in life. You can have fun but not at the expense of important things. For one, Competitive Programming is not necessary for human survival — even worse, you hardly get the chance to apply it anywhere outside of academia.

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  lmao then your the one who clearly doesn't know to convey a point. Literally every comment of yours suggests not to have hobbies that aren't useful, essentially "Never do what u like if it isn't useful"

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  lmao then your the one who clearly doesn't know to convey a point.

                  Lmao. You clearly don't know how to read. I already mentioned that in my original comment. I just used money as one example.

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  lmao u literally said cp is just for students and a waste of time otherwise. Noone said anything about having hobbies in the expense of your job anywhere in the thread. Doing contests or anything in weekends, though useless, doesn't hurt your job but inturn is a refresher.

                  Anyways this is getting pointless, so good day!

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  and a waste of time otherwise

                  You exaggerated my statement. I said that there are many more important things in life and those alone are enough for the OP not to waste time on CP. Learn to read. Period.

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                  3 years ago, # ^ |
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                  Beyond the basic needs of oxygen, water, and food, importance is purely subjective

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        3 years ago, # ^ |
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        That's probably the first time I feel Lance is stupid.

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        3 years ago, # ^ |
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        If you only do work stuff and do not have any kind of fun or hobbies, sooner or later you will burn out and it would be more harder to reach your goals.

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        3 years ago, # ^ |
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        But programmers have high paying jobs ;)

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          3 years ago, # ^ |
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          That is not true. The pay obviously depends on factors like the company, country, role, etc.

          Surely you don't expect just any company to pay as well as FAANG? Also, many of the ridiculously high salaries for IT that I see come from the USA (where the tax rate is also higher).

          In my country at least (where the IT industry is booming), the "high pay" for IT (Programming) jobs is reserved for those with many years of experience (and the cream of the fresh graduate crop). The rest get only a "slightly higher than average pay" at best.

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        3 years ago, # ^ |
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        What are your hobbies?

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          3 years ago, # ^ |
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          I have a feeling that lance is either into training dragons or watching the How to train your dragon series.

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            3 years ago, # ^ |
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            He was defeated by Leon and his dragon started his own family, basically he is just venting out his frustation on CF.

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
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    I suggest that there should be a blacklist for everyone to block LanceTheDragonTrainer.

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3 years ago, # |
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I did some CP in my last year of high-school, and then didn't do any CP during university. I graduated two years ago, and a few months ago a friend told me to do some codeforces, just for fun. While in quarantine I had more time (and could participate in contests during weekdays), but even now as we started to work at the office I can still participate in contests during weekends (and, of course, do virtuals after work). But I do it because I like it, whereas in my last year year of high-school I did it to try to get into IOI. If you enjoy CP, there is no reason why you should not find time to do it; though of course, you won't be having as much time as in high-school. Also, I personally find it much more fun to also have a friend who does codeforces, as it's fun to talk to someone after the contest about the problems. :)

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3 years ago, # |
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In my case, I joined my current college due to Competitive Programming. :P

Currently in my final year, will probably continue Competitive Programming after college too.

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
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    Well, how would you manage training then?

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      3 years ago, # ^ |
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      I'm not sure yet. Will surely figure out something when that time comes. :)

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
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    Sounds interesting, how did you join college due to CP , were you pursuing something else and if yes then how did you start CP?

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      3 years ago, # ^ |
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      Yes, I was pursuing Chartered Accountancy. Stumbled upon Competitive programming, liked it, so changed my course upcoming year.

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3 years ago, # |
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I graduated last year but started CP only 2 months ago. Been working as a software engineer for some 14 months. I used to love Maths but did not really continue after the 1st year of my graduation period. My motivation is that I want to improve my logical thinking skills and be the same person that I was once before. I mostly just participate in contests and try to upsolve 1-2 unsolved problems and practice sometimes on Leetcode to get the basics. You mentioned that you love doing it then trust me that you will somehow manage to continue. Won't have the same amount of time as before probably but don't we all prioritize and give time to things we love?

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3 years ago, # |
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Cp isn't for professionals ,do something useful for this society. No need to waste your life solving useless problems . Solve something real.

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3 years ago, # |
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JUST LOVE. I Love the feeling of solving a logic problem.

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3 years ago, # |
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I treat CP like playing chess. Moreover, It's more useful than chess in case I want to pass interview process.

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3 years ago, # |
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Why? That's simple — it is fun. If it is not fun for you, you probably will stop competing. But if it is, I don't really see stronger motivation other than that.

There could be other motivations: some useful skill on daily job (software eng, I mean). Spending time with your friends during OpenCup. Maybe stream and become popular there. But fun is what keeping me solving for all of those years.

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3 years ago, # |
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dush1729 still participates regularly. He graduated 2 years ago.

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    3 years ago, # ^ |
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    Well for me the reasons are same to what others have said. I absolutely love enjoying solving algorithmic puzzles and never feel tired or bored of it(maybe in few years?). And if you love doing something then it's easy to find time for it. But yes I do agree it depends on your job. Sometimes when deadline is near and I have a huge pile of tasks I do take a break for few days. Luckily for me it's not that frequent since I keep good amount of buffer time for tasks given.

    It's true I was very much motivated in college due to ICPC. But after college too there are many good annual contests you can look forward too like Topcoder TCO, Facebook Hackercup, Google Code Jam, Google HashCode, Codechef Snackdown etc.

    Another bonus is it does improve your problem solving skills and indirectly helps in day to day tasks at your job. Ofcourse you won't need those heavy data structures at your job but helps in arriving to the solution quicker. Also improves your googling and searching pattern skills. :P And also helps in algorithmic puzzles asked in interviews since they are very similar.

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3 years ago, # |
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I graduated in 2018, didn't do it much during university but got addicted to it during last year. I have never missed a contest since then. I practice sometimes and hope to reach master next year. While of course pursuing my job.

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3 years ago, # |
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Auto comment: topic has been updated by Amr-Fahmy (previous revision, new revision, compare).

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3 years ago, # |
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I see CF contests as a fun mind-sport. I kept participating after graduation and managed to improve my ratings.

I don't feel too bad when I perform poorly (for some people it's the main reason for leaving CP). But I do feel great when I perform well.

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3 years ago, # |
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I'm in my late 30's (and hence always amused by the kids here who say they're in their early 20's and oh-so-old for competitive programming!) A friend introduced me to competitive programming when we were in college and I loved it, but didn't get much time to train for it then. I often reminisce the good old days and hope that someday I'm in a position to help others as well. At the same time, it keeps me technically grounded (in both computer science and math — which I really like), so I try and find time for it whenever I can.

If you enjoy CP, continue doing it, regardless of official contests or other material benefits — it's a constructive use of your time and a healthy hobby to have in the longer term.