How good is competitive programming?

1

I’ve heard many people say that one should give competitive programming a try once they are comfortable with the language as its a completely different experience as compared to normal tutorials and projects. It helps them to learn how to work in a stressful situation on a time limit, as well as find quick and efficient solutions to a given problem.
Now, while i find competitive programming to be quite fun and personally think that the experience is likely to come in handy, i thought it would be best to ask people who are more experienced in the field than me.
So basically, I have the following questions regarding competitive programming:

  1. How good is competitive programming?
  2. How much of it comes in handy in the real world?
  3. How much time would you recommend spending into it?

I understand that these questions may not have an exact answer, but an opinion based on your experience would be of great help.

2

Competitive programming is a fine hobby. Ut’s not some magic for teaching you professional coding. The two are a bit different.

3

So it mostly has hobbitual value or for those who want a challenge?

4

I kinda compare it to Sudoku. Sudoku is a great hobby but it’s very different than what I do as a mathematician at work.

Competitive programming can be super fun and get you practice solving problems, but you aren’t writing and extending long term code that you have been working on for months or years.

3 Likes
5

Makes sense.
I guess both have their own significance then.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my query. I rly appreciate it ^^.

1 Like
6

If it keeps you focused on getting better at programming, it might be a good complement to learning and building projects. But it’s not a substitute for learning and building projects.

Personally, I like doing LeetCode problems. I do them like some people do crossword puzzles. I know there are cases where it’s made my code cleaner or faster – or my ideas clearer and easier to express.

But … I’ve worked with plenty of programmers who didn’t care about LeetCode and who were largely unfamiliar with DSA. It didn’t make a huge difference most of the time.

1 Like