Competitive Programming vs Software Development – Where Should I Invest in 2023? | What to do for Placements

At the time of 2022 December, I am writing this blog. i will tell about what is the actual meaning of competitive programming vs software development and at the end i share my personal reviews about that..so read full blog.

What Choose:- Competitive Programming Vs Software Development
source:- https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/competitive-programming-vs-software-development-where-should-i-invest-my-time/

What is Competitive Programming

Competitive Programming (a.k.a. CP) is activities to solve coding problems using algorithms and data structures. More specifically, competitive programming is a competition to solve a problem with an algorithm by writing a computer program. The computer program must be able to produce answers within a certain period and with certain memory limitations. Who can solve the problem faster and with less memory will be everyone’s goal (competitive programmer’s goal)

The focus of competitive programming is the ability to find problem-solving algorithms and implement these algorithms into a computer program. Thus, other programming aspects such as graphical interfaces, networks, databases, etc. usually do not need attention. Competitive programming no needs human aspect like UI / UX or Clean Code, it likes a black box when getting the input or test case it can solve by code, and only aware of this problem could be solved by this algorithm.

What is Software Development

being a successful programmer If you believe that software development is solely about using online communities or searching Stack Overflow for solutions, then you're mistaken. Being a developer is unlikely. It requires time. It needs a culture of coding and product development. You'll be spending a lot of time on different websites and blogs learning about the tools, technologies, and libraries needed to complete tasks for your job. You must determine for yourself which programme, library, or framework is best to use to address your issues (for instance, when to use MongoDB, MySQL, or Elastic search).

Most of the time when working on software, a team is involved, and your code is not just your code (but competitive programmers are often their masters). Therefore, it's crucial to write clearer, better code in software development that is also simpler to read, modify, maintain, and extend. Nobody enjoys working with clumsy code created by a team of XYZ developers. If you leave some messy code in the codebase, other developers will be angry with you. Thus, one of the most crucial skills a software developer should possess is this one. It develops with time, practise, patience, looking at other developers' code, and getting to work on some actual projects

You also need to be proficient in operating systems and design patterns. Distributed systems, computer networks, and some other core ideas in computer science. You can get better in many ways by working on software. Your communication skills will improve because you'll need to consult with your managers or colleagues about the demands of the product or the project's tasks. You are the only one writing the code and raising the rating in CP. There is no outside involvement.

Now you get idea about software development vs competitive coding...now i will share my personal views about that...

My personal Review:-

I have done both competitive programming as well as have contributed to open source organizations.

Competitive programming is fun and participating in short challenges will give you rush and can be addictive. It will make your basics in Data structures and Algorithms very strong which is a must have for a programmer. Doing competitive programming will certainly make yous problem solving ability better which will be useful in software development.

Doing software development will help you more when you are working as a part of a job. Generally, it is a slow and a time consuming process. It is more satisfying because in software development you are creating actual impact, the product you are contributing to will be used by several users . I remember, working on a bug I encountered during my project for a week with my mentor. Generally, you don't work for this long on a problem in competitive programming (unless its a long challenge) .

Based on my experiences, the advantages of pursuing competitive programming are :-

1. It helps in campus placements as similar type of questions are asked in interviews and coding tests.
2. It helps you improve your problem solving skill.
3. It helps you improve your coding speed drastically as you keep on participating in short challenges.
4. You are able to write pieces of code accurately the first time.

I have some experience of doing actual software development as I have contributed to FreeBSD operating system as a part of my Google summer of code Project.

Skills gained by doing software developments :-

1. Learn to write maintainable and clean code.
2. Improved code reading.
3. Learnt about design patterns.
4. Learnt in depth about languages and tools used.

Which of these you should do will depend on your current interest levels and goals

Pursuing competitive programming for becoming yellow/red on Topcoder or Codeforces is certainly time consuming and you will have to practice diligently to achieve the same, although to achieve a decent level shouldn't take that much effort.

Generally, while hiring, startups are more interested in hiring people with development experience and who can get the job done than a person who has better knowledge of algorithms, but is not familiar with the technology they are using. On the other hand, giants like Google, Facebook tend to give preference to people with better algorithmic ability.

My advice would be to go for both competitive programming and software development initially and then decide for yourself. Competitive programming will certainly help your increase your knowledge of algorithms (which is extremely necessary) in Computer Science. Software development will give you the satisfaction of working on a real project and help you write clear, readable and maintainable code.

Related queries but same answer:-

• Is software development same as competitive programming?
• Should I focus on competitive programming or development?
• Is competitive programming necessary for development?
• What is competitive programming and development?