_NonSense_'s blog

Is Doing CP still worth it ?
By _NonSense_, history, 2 days ago, In English

I have spent the last 9 to 12 months training on CF, and i started getting decent at it...(e.g. ~1300 contest rating) Now after keeping up with AI development mainly Open-AI models, it started to feel less rewarding and fun to do CP...

AI is Getting better than most competitive programmers:

I'm sure that most of you know about the recent performance charts that were published for open-AI o1 model... it's now out preforming most real competitors and even achieving 1st place on a leetcode recent contest, and that strips away the fun and enthusiasm in doing online contests.

Why is it a Big Deal:

for many programmers, including me, doing CP was a fun way to expand our knowledge and problem solving skills, while also preparing for job interviews.

And doing online contests is a way to monitor our improvement and performance... but now that anyone with zero to no experience can solve most problems that many average CPs struggle with, it's certainly a turn off for many... Suddenly reaching a certain milestone in rating doesn't mean much.

The Chess Argument:

I have seen a lot of CF users, throw around the chess Argument, that is "even after machines became better than humans in chess it it still played by humans", but what these arguments are overlooking is the fact that Chess is a game, not a career choice for the most part, And it's done mostly for fun, while CP is a skillset and a career defining one...

Is AI gonna take over CP?

not necessarily, but it's certainly gonna be a turn off for a lot of people. Now more than ever doing CP is turning into a game YES just like chess, and now for many people including me, solving problems on the problemset or doing virtual contests is more tempting than competing against cheaters and feeling like trash...

Main Takeaway:

I'm not writing this to discourage people or to push them away from doing CP, it's still a great way to improve problem solving skills, I just want to know IS IT STILL WORTH IT Because, after investing a quite a bit of time in CP it doesn't seem that worthwhile after the recent changes in the tech space... maybe doing it casually while investing that time in another skill would be more beneficial career wise?

Side note:

I just read Um_nik's recent Blog and i have to say, this is really out of touch, i have to say it... I don't really care if i get down voted... You have to secure a job and achieve financial stability so you can Do something solely for 'Fun' ! :/

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2 days ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

No it's not worth it any more. Please leave the website. Stop posting such blogs. Feel free to pursue whatever you feel is "worth" it.

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    2 days ago, # ^ |
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    read the blog before you comment or else don't, i never said i wanted to leave, i said doing it casually maybe better than focusing on it !

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2 days ago, # |
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For God's sake stop posting such _NonSense_

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2 days ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

Chess is a game, not a career choice for the most part, And it's done mostly for fun, while CP is a skillset and a career defining one...

If you are doing CP for "career", please leave. You are not welcome here. Go to LeetCode.

You and your kind are the people who invaded our site. And then you have the audacity to call people like Um_nik "out of touch". You are the one who is out of touch. This website is not for you. Of course the values of people here won't match yours.

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    2 days ago, # ^ |
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    this is really funny who are you to not welcome me here? or to decide that doing CP is not for career? or to speak for the people of CF? ^ _ ^

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    2 days ago, # ^ |
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    Well I always did CP for job, and I got great success with what I wanted. I started liking CP in the process because it was going to make me money. I still like it because it made me money. I may not like it now because it may not make me money. You enjoy enjoying your interesting problems, I enjoy making money.

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      2 days ago, # ^ |
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      Exactly! Everyone is welcome to do what make them comfortable, nobody gets to shoo somebody off a platform for having a different mindset.

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        2 days ago, # ^ |
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        Actually, I do get to shoo you off a platform for not enjoying CP. Fuck off.

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2 days ago, # |
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analogy of current situation is: you don't do sudoku for job, you don't do chess for job, you don't do Go for job.

success in cp is used to be sign of intelligence and indeed it is. however that will no longer impress employer because now it become easily cheatable. unless being Master or greater at this point

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