I learned C++ first, then Java, and now I’m trying to learn Python. I honestly expected Python to be much easier, but somehow it feels harder to understand and even remember the syntax.
C++ and Java feel more structured to me, while Python sometimes feels too different.
Has anyone else felt this after switching from C++/Java to Python?
Pata hai aaj kya hua I met the chillest girl before the GD... then everything changed.
Hi everyone, yesterday I attended a placement drive where the first round after the coding test was a Group Discussion (GD). Before the GD started, I met this girl outside. She seemed pretty chill, friendly, and easy to talk to. We even ended up talking about music. I was listening to Eminem, and she asked me what my favorite Eminem song was. We chatted for a bit, and I genuinely liked her vibe. Little did I know who the real Eminem was going to be once we walked into the GD room.
The GD topic was "Friends with Benefits." She, along with several others, was speaking in favor of it, while some of my friends and I were against it. There were around 25 candidates in the room, and surprisingly, she didn't let anyone speak—not even the people who agreed with her. Initially, everything was going well. Everyone was presenting their points respectfully.
But after 2–3 rounds, I have no idea what happened to her.
She suddenly started shouting at the top of her lungs, constantly interrupting everyone. Her arguments became all over the place. At one point, my friend politely asked her to let him finish and said, "Don't you think it's not morally ethical?"
She immediately shouted, "Who the fk are you to decide?" The entire room went silent.
The recruiter didn't interrupt her or stop the discussion. We somehow finished the GD, and later the results came out.
She got selected for the final round, while both my friend and I got rejected.
Honestly, I was shocked. I always thought a GD was meant to evaluate communication, listening skills, teamwork, and how well you present your arguments—not who can shout the loudest like it's some TV news debate.
After everything ended, I casually asked her, "What went wrong in there? I understand everyone wants to prove their point, but people should also listen to others."
She just smiled, looked a little shy, and walked away.
Now I'm genuinely confused. Is this how GDs are evaluated these days, or was this just one weird experience?
Has anyone else experienced something similar? Do recruiters actually reward this kind of behavior, or did we completely misunderstand what they were looking for?
Hi, I just tried a few questions on AtCoder, and man, I was stunned after the first few.
What the hell is wrong with their problem statements? Why does it always feel like something is missing? I spent 15–20 minutes on a single problem just trying to understand what it was even asking.
I've solved 100+ problems on Codeforces, but I genuinely don't understand what's wrong with AtCoder's problem statements. The questions don't feel clear, and the mathematical expressions are so confusing. On Codeforces, you usually get proper explanations and well-formatted mathematical notation. Here, it feels like they're just throwing formulas at you and hoping you'll figure them out.
Has anyone else faced this issue? How did you deal with it?
Hi Codeforces folks,
I'm entering my 4th year and have been doing CP since 1st year, but never consistently because of college stuff.
Recently, I started the TLE Eliminators CP-31 sheet. I completed the 800-rated problems comfortably, but after moving to 900-rated problems, I realized I'm still heavily dependent on brute force.
The issue is that I can usually come up with a solution, but it's often too slow and ends up getting TLE. I feel like I'm missing the thought process needed to spot the intended optimization.
Has anyone gone through this stage? How did you train yourself to think beyond brute force and start recognizing efficient solutions?
Also, I'm not chasing ratings right now. My goal is simply to become capable of solving problems across different rating ranges and improve my problem-solving ability.
To all the coders out there please guide me.... Any advice would be appreciated.