I've been coding and doing competitive programming and algorithm practice for about a year and a half. I used to really enjoy it, but lately I've started feeling like coding is awful and that I'll never be as good as the people who finish difficult contests in just a few minutes. I'm currently stuck on a difficult problem, and the frustration is making me wonder whether I should quit altogether. How should I handle this comparison and burnout?
3 Answers
Comparing yourself with the fastest competitors is almost guaranteed to make you miserable. They represent a tiny fraction of programmers, and speed-running difficult problems isn’t the same as being a great developer. Try measuring your progress against where you were a few months ago instead. Take a break when you’re stuck, study the solution afterward, and treat each problem as practice rather than a judgment of your ability.
Competitive programming is mainly a puzzle hobby and a way to sharpen certain problem-solving skills. It doesn’t represent all of software development, where building useful things, understanding requirements, debugging, and working with other people matter just as much. If you enjoy making practical projects, shift some of your time toward those instead of forcing yourself to grind difficult puzzles.
It’s worth asking what you actually enjoy about programming. If you only enjoyed it when you felt faster or better than other people, losing that feeling can make the whole activity seem pointless. But if you still like creating things or solving interesting problems, you may just be burned out on contests. Reduce the difficulty, take a short break, or explore another area of programming before deciding to quit entirely.
That makes sense. I think I’ve been treating every hard problem as proof that I’m not good enough, instead of seeing it as one kind of practice. I’ll try working on some smaller projects and taking the pressure off contests for a while.