My Competitive Programming Journey (and how to practice)

[@danielkoynov5627]

Damn when he said fix your sleep schedule I realized I was watching this at 1 am. I'll definitely try to work on that.

[@RiteshNEVERUNIFORM]

Dammit Its 3am here

[@skyveil]

same here

[@drainbamage2542]

wait... you guys are having sleep?

[@danielkoynov5627]

@@drainbamage2542 Sometimes

[@champion_aarush]

me at 1:30 am....🥲🥲🥲

[@aaronmei1630]

Congrats on lGM! Very well deserved.

[@gabrielwu5787]

is that a lowercase L?

[@peihu3201]

thats an upper case i lmao

[@asdfasdf-fk3ow]

@@peihu3201 its a joke lol

[@adityakrishna11]

IGM - iGM LGM - lGM

[@adityakrishna11]

so yea that's a lowercase L.

[@ayushvarshney6321]

Really impressive journey and I'm sure this will inspire many more to follow in your steps. Congrats on IGM and 7 star (in such a short time too) and I wish you all the best for the future!

[@sohammukherjee8079]

Congrats on IGM and 7*,en exceptional achievement at that age of yours as any sane person would reckon! A big thank you for the explanatory videos, wishing you good luck for the future, and looking forward to learning much more from you!

[@dhruv78888]

What is his age in approx..

[@harshupadhyay4393]

@@dhruv78888 he's first year college students, so not more than 20 ig

[@orewaluffy1374]

Lol he is 18 😂

[@denjellboone8812]

Nice video Colin. I think it is good to see that the way was not as easy as it seemed when looking at your ratings. I personally liked the part on how you coped with failure the most. Respect on putting in this much effort in your early years. I spend my highschool time on a lot of really useless stuff :-)

[@sv67cb]

You should definitely consider doing more videos like this. Thank you for this and congrats on getting to IGM.

[@vishalchaurasia3386]

Your Journey to Competitive Programming is quiet motivating 😚😚. You work hard to get what you want.

[@ankitpandey4602]

Well you cleared doubts of thousands of students in a mere 28 minutes of time. Thanks a lot, Colin.

[@AnuragYadav-cp9jh]

😂😂

[@achintyaeeshan3069]

Amazing video Colin, waiting for this since so long

[@336_saranyamaity8]

0:56 you have right to make this video because you are one of the legends who has proved himself to be worthy of giving knowledge

[@qlf9_]

colin orz legit though this is a really good video that I think will help cpers of all levels improve :) (congrats on IGM!)

[@antontrygubO_o]

Omkar orz

[@danielqiu3320]

Omkar orz

[@dineshbs6635]

Wow, thats great Colin. Congrats on the IGM!

[@stretch8390]

Only getting the test case is a real vibe, love it.

[@sobieso]

orz ur my biggest inspiration ily kekw

[@nirajandata]

philosophie

[@suvidsinghal1365]

Was eagerly waiting for it :)

[@OscarRendon]

Loved this kind of content, really honest and encouraging! 💪 Not too much is being said about ranking stress, failures, and discouraging contest results. Usually, red coders seem like ppl from another world with just higher IQ, and it might be true for some, but can also be a mindset trap to avoid keep trying after failure!

[@manjunathvasam4981]

Was waiting for something like this

[@anmol_tomer]

Really great advice, I think sleeping schedule thing was my favourite, because I noticed that as well, due to lockdown we have online classes so I get more time to sleep and these days I really feel great while giving a contest when I've had proper sleep. Please continue to make videos like these. Really great content. 🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@abhaypatil2000]

18 hours and already the most watched video on your channel

[@ColinGalen]

Yep, this is the first time I've actually tried to play the youtube algorithm

[@kevinmiao226]

Thanks, Colin. your video really helps me fix my concerns about competitive programming. Keep up the good work!

[@danielwu624]

Dang, I'm going to need to do a lot more ;gitgud.

[@sadhunarun7430]

waited for this video so long bro..

[@chandanagrawal3283]

Congrats 🎊 , u always help me even in some very dumb questions really thankful and inspirational.❤️🙏

[@harshanadendla5873]

hey man, please take out some time and do some practice-tips oriented videos.

[@kesarkiran5265]

Thanks a lot for the initiative!!

[@peihu3201]

thank you @Colin Galen this helped very much, I will continue on with usaco and be a better CPer!!! :)

[@mohdshoaibcs0717]

thank u for the video brother, it really really inspires me alot

[@kongzilla2897]

Motivational !! yayy you have gained a new subscriber : )

[@manjunathvasam4981]

Please do more of this type of videos

[@miraszarpullayev9150]

That's really inspiring, just started my own journey thanks to you :)

[@imranif3899]

That was really encouraging. Applause for reaching IGM too.

[@hardikawasthi6210]

An informative video. Will love to watch more of such videos...

[@DreaMagnifier]

I think sometimes motivation is great better than on contest because it boost up and gives the answer why he not me, which we can't learn from giving contest

[@pacha2880]

"fix tour sleeping schedule", I really need to do that

[@stars-hx1oe]

So you heard about it from your friends and you beat your friends :)

[@SouravendraKrishnaDeb]

Congrats dude!

[@dunghuynhtien7153]

Could you share with us your schedule ? (In the morning, you started practicing when ..., how many problems ..., how long to think on 1 problem ..., in the afternoon, evening, ..., sleep how many hours ...) Thanks!

[@ColinGalen]

It wasn't really a rigorous schedule. I just did normal stuff, went to school, (tried to) swiftly finish homework, and when I had free time, I would spend it thinking on whatever problem I was currently stuck on. Sleep was relatively normal, went to bed around 11-12 PM. Typically I would try to think on a single problem until I felt completely tired of it - not just stuck, but so lost that I felt that any more time spent would just be a waste, and this often only happened after multiple days.

[@dunghuynhtien7153]

@@ColinGalen Competitive programming is really for you I think ! Wish you luck and get LGM along the journey .

[@PrashantChauhan-nn4zn]

very motivating journey 😊😊....

[@satishprajapati1684]

reaching red in 2 yrs from scratch is just insaneeeee

[@orewaluffy1374]

I did that in 4 months 😂

[@nextlevel7270]

@@orewaluffy1374 can you share your journey from beginning ?

[@user-en5vj6vr2u]

Not even two years. Un fucking fair 😭

[@GoldenLion5648]

What exactly were the problems that you cheesed and how did you cheese them at 8:15? Awesome video, very inspirational!

[@ColinGalen]

Silver p2 and gold p2 from this year: www.usaco.org/current/index.php?page=open19results Silver was squeezing an unintended O(n^2) solution past the weak test cases Gold was using an unintended math solution (that was actually very easy for them to counteract, had they known it) for what was supposed to be finding a minimum spanning tree

[@NamanCodes]

This guy is a legend

[@shubhampokhriyal8491]

Awesome galen

[@hussienmoustafa3668]

what is your advice for a beginner .. Do i have to start usaco training or continue with codeforces / atcoder ... I want to improve my rating in codeforces and skills in competetive programming... I have been solving codeforces and atcoder problems for more than a year but there is no progress in my rating and i am still stuck at newbie

[@ColinGalen]

I suppose, if what you've been doing hasn't been working, then it can't hurt to try something new, right? I think USACO training is amazing because it forces you to adopt the learning mentality.

[@jimothyus]

Well competitive programing needs 2 things 1.Ability to problem solve 2. Knowledge of algorithms and patterns since you have been doing codeforces you probably already have some grasp on the 2nd part which means you probably need to improve your ability to think and solve problems. How do you do that? I dont know really what the best way is but im sure google knows!

[@cydrus2856]

@@jimothyus I just started to read a book called "Think like a programmer" maybe it can help him since I also have a hard time solving problems.

[@НиколайДомашенко-э4ш]

Hey, thanks. You inspired me to dive into competitive programming. The thing is I have 2 chances of participating at IOI, I'm currently 1201 rating on Codechef after 8 days of practice (250> ploblems solved). Started 02.06.22

[@nahrafe]

Seems like youre on a good path! Good luck with your journey mate!

[@НиколайДомашенко-э4ш]

@@nahrafe Hey, thanks! I've made a lot of progress over the past 4 months. I hit 1760 (Codechef) rating yesterday. And I have become confident solving hard problems with rating above 2000 during contests. I am so close to 4* and I am planning on getting 5* by the end of 2022

[@zzz2753]

​@@НиколайДомашенко-э4ш Any update mate

[@mridulkumar786]

We all want to see you LGM soon :-)

[@kishorenalluri7703]

Do more of these

[@AnmolGera2]

Can you put together all the questions? If possible and the type of questions you did?

[@riteshrastogi5388]

You also spoke about practicing on Atcoder, as it has those AdHoc Problems, which generally helps in improving the thinking ability. But, how did you practice over there? What I mean to ask is, that I think we cannot sort the AtCoder Problems in some difficulty order, or solved count. So, could you please throw some light upon that as well.

[@ColinGalen]

Ah. Thank you, that's something I should have mentioned (and will now be in the video's description). There's this cool site called kenkoooo which basically lets you do exactly what you mentioned. Here it is: kenkoooo.com/atcoder#/table/

[@nishithbaravkar7549]

Thanks a lot colin for the guidance

[@SurajSingh-pb4bs]

Very informative, I'd just like to ask how would you say your math was when you first started with competitive programming?

[@ColinGalen]

The only math experience I had was school math, so probably weak

[@shrayammitra6447]

Wish you get MLE soon 😄, thanks vm for the video

[@anunaysharma2718]

When do you think a person should start participating in contests oncodeforces?

[@ColinGalen]

I think, as soon as you can start. Contests help you know the exact type of things you have to solve/know, and the more you do, the better your mentality about them will be.

[@Arcvx]

Wtf, how are you verified with only 72 subscribers?

[@faizan346]

7 a.m and now i am going to sleep

[@nandansharma6844]

Really helped me a lot brother

[@adhoc3018]

Very impressive.

[@akashpratapsingh3553]

That's so great man but can you please make at a list of all algorithms and data structure which are useful in competitive programming and all other topics which can help other noob programmers.

[@ColinGalen]

That's what USACO training is for. And to be honest, for beginners, it's so much more about practicing general problem solving than learning specific concepts. So such a list isn't really necessary.

[@akashpratapsingh3553]

@@ColinGalen thanks alot mate. I really appreciate it.😊

[@humphreyxu5007]

Colin, I was wondering if you came from any type of math olympiads or math contests before USACO? thanks

[@ColinGalen]

Nope, I actually hated competitive math when young

[@krishshah3974]

@@ColinGalen lol

[@kroozcastro9636]

Awesome!!!!

[@vibhusharma5374]

what are the learning sources you used during your whole journey

[@shashankgupta29]

I was just about to start and i found this ❤️

[@nishansingh77]

Look who I found!!

[@shashankgupta29]

@@nishansingh77 Waiting for A tutorial on "How to Become CM on CF in 6 months " from you.😂

[@Arcvx]

Would it be fine to use the USACO site/USACO training portal strictly for practicing and not be hassled into their competitions and all the other stuff? I’m mainly looking into competitive programming as an outlet to brush up my coding skills while having something to occupy myself in college.

[@ColinGalen]

Yeah, their competitions are totally not required. In fact, their problems are usually available around a week after each contest, so you'll still have access to them even if you don't do the contest live.

[@GuzunVeaceslav]

Great video

[@rahul.s7]

It took me 6 months to reach 6 star on cc and 1840 on CF and don't see any progress for the last 2 months, or actually falling on CF, how do I get a progress, please suggest and help.

[@ColinGalen]

I was also high blue for a while. You probably aren't stuck, it's just a difficult place to get out of. Most likely, try to fix any mistakes you've been making lately, keep practicing the way that got you to this current point (mixing in new concepts if necessary), and you'll probably break this wall in time.

[@agnimandur7911]

Hey Colin I "liked" this video once with my main account and once with this account :) Next step LGM I guess.

[@TheMsnitish]

Indian views skyrocketing. Thanks for making this video man.

[@notvoidz]

great vid =D

[@sainathsingineedi2922]

IGM orz

[@mathdude1613]

Nice vid!

[@chandantyagix]

I strongly feel You should update your mic. Thankyou

[@hashtagYSK]

Hey colin can you make a video about how to master dynamic programming

[@dasIsaac]

I just assumed since i was a casual programmer that there had to be competitive.

[@meenasinghal733]

Galen Colin ioi 2021 gold

[@rajatnagpure7445]

We want more coming!

[@asifanwarsajid8332]

Great guideline for newbies like me!! Can you tell me one thing! How and from where you used fo learn new concepts and master them! Please clear me. I'm stuck at same stage for last 2/3 months. Just solving codeforces Div 2 A, B. Hardly the C problem. I'm not getting any idea about how to learn new data structures/algorithms and implement them.

[@ColinGalen]

USACO Training (as I mentioned) has most of the necessary things for beginners, and with that basis, it'll make it easier to learn more advanced things.

[@asifanwarsajid8332]

@@ColinGalen I have already started practicing on USACO training. Completed few ad hoc problems(section-1.1, 1.2). Now solving Complete Search(Section-1.3) problems. But here only I can find is problems with few short introductions on those concepts. I still couldn't find any tutorials/resources on USACO training. :(

[@ColinGalen]

@@asifanwarsajid8332 The later chapters (e.g. 2) have articles and problems on more advanced topics. The beginning section is designed for people new to CP to get them used to problem solving in general.

[@asifanwarsajid8332]

@@ColinGalen ok!! Thanks a ton. Waiting for you upcoming videos! 💖:D

[@himanshugupta7647]

Is 5 months enough to get 1600 my current rating is just 800

[@IMdAbdulquadirKhan]

I thought it was 2600years

[@ColinGalen]

"0-2 in 2600 years" would be slightly less impressive lol

[@IMdAbdulquadirKhan]

@@ColinGalen 😉

[@cydrus2856]

I guess the next step is 100k subs on youtube!

[@the_humble_lazy]

yeah do this kiindaa videos too

[@DevChannel-b4i]

Hello, so it took you about 2 years to reach red on codeforces, could you please tell how many hours you would typically spend each day on practice?

[@udayverma6120]

Hey Colin, how much time did you practice on an average during those two years? Also, where did you cover data structures from?

[@abhinav4279_]

It would be nice if you share your thought process of upsolving and ways you consider important to improve this process.

[@ujalamaurya292]

How did you learn dsa so perfectly....can you suggest plzzzzzzzzzzz

[@gladwinrojer273]

Congratulations on your IGM. Can you tell me what is your age? Are you a student?

[@ColinGalen]

17, and yes, in high school (before university)

[@anthonysummit3098]

@@ColinGalen Jesus Christ man, I am 22 and just switched to comp sci from business, I thought you'd be at least 20

[@priyanzhu]

The expert in anything was once a beginner ~ Helen Hayes

[@MohitYadav-yv2rw]

All the best for LGM!

[@AbhishekKumar-hj4qo]

I want to know your age ???? 👨🏻‍💻🧠🙋‍♂️ Are you in school or in college??? Please reply.... 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[@ColinGalen]

17, school

[@shaileshnavale1819]

@@ColinGalen bro.. so damn cool...

[@prakash_77]

Great video! Any update on USACO/IOI plans for this year?

[@skyveil]

Well the flex came like flex box. You know what I am sayin

[@sumedhvangara7368]

hello do you have any advice on one-trick problems?

[@ColinGalen]

I guess for those you'll have to just know the trick and be able to apply it (if I understand you correctly), so having a strong and broad conceptual basis should make that easy most of the time.

[@iamcttaburn3838]

Would you recommend timus over usaco,

[@ColinGalen]

I don't have any experience with timus, but I heard it has good problems for practice (source: um_nik), so it'll probably also work just as well.

[@saiprashanth3597]

What do you think of algoexpert.io?

[@dejavukun]

@@saiprashanth3597 That is for Coding interviews and won't help in CP much(Other than the concepts u get to learn in it)

[@danitorres124]

That was a pretty good path for that period of time, congrats mate! The things that I hope to workout from here are *Fixing my sleep time *Doing contests and upsolving or at least try to understeand what the thought for that problem was *Find the sweet spot to practice, not too easy, not too hard Let's see what happens :D

[@saiprashanth3597]

calen golin IGM chad Orz

[@VY-zt3ph]

DO you have the question list which you did on CodeForces over the time like from noob to masters??

[@kaladinium7337]

Galen OTZ

[@professormoriarty7439]

How many hours a day did you practice. I really like to know

[@leviackerman9882]

2:07 what kind of friends talk about codeforces at a birthday party ;)

[@abin_4857]

I saw ur comment on on of CP related video, ur also in 4th sem now i guess? How is ur CP going?

[@leviackerman9882]

@@abin_4857 not so good but im quite happy with the journey ;)

[@throinemaster3246]

Thanks a lot.

[@wox5922]

YAAAAAAAY

[@jittojoyes7533]

Would you recommend usaco for a beginner. Like i was doing codeforces and i still remain as a newbie and i did work hard, but was not consistent enough. Now I feel like i messed up everything can u suggest me what to do next?

[@josephpark2093]

Does USACO training still work? I registered for it and it just won't let me in.