All Studied problems and their Solutions per Platform in Cpp.
- Its all about problem solving and critical analysis, which is different from the context of Software Engineering. In this case, it would be best to use the tools most adept in this environment, namely C++. As an extension, you may implement solutions in your preferred language, however when actually competing, C++ has its benefits such as smaller syntax , least language-to-penalty-time impact, and its outstanding STL, which make it the 80% go to language for professionals.
- Competitive Programming is 'practically' useless in Developer Jobs, but still a 'technical' skill required to be the cream of the crop. Ie. Any project manager will always choose someone who can comfortably execute any modification for any algorithm rather than someone who has to take a couple of hours to understand it.
- Its a completely natural thing to feel helpless against problems beyond your capabilities. A large part of the difficulty
besides actually solving the problem, is by sticking to it and learning its underlying concept rather than outright
memorizing it. - If you're lost, start with HackerRank or Codecademy to actually learn the syntax and techniques of Cpp. Get to the part before OOP-as returns start to diminish and it would actually be better if you just went ahead.
- Beyond the other famous platforms, I highly recommend you spend a couple of months to finish the books
here:https://cpbook.net/ It contains all important information that fasttracks you to important algorithms you would actually need, along with the benefit of having problems to come with it.
tl;dr - Get 5stars in CPP in HackerRank -> Finish the Competitive Programming Book in tip 5 -> Actually compete in time- constrained contests to become good.