@gcodingcomps

Google's Coding Competitions are meant to enthrall, challenge, and test coders around the world. Try your hand at one, or all three.

g.co/codingcompetitions
Joined August 2009
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  • Followers103K
20 years, more than a million participants and billions of lines of code later, our coding competitions are coming to a close. It's been an honor to learn and enjoy coding with you. Thank you. Join us 4/15 at 2 p.m. UTC for farewell rounds of competition: goo.gle/3SlSIGA
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🦾 Brute force, then build. 🧰 For #KickStartTipTuesday, software engineer Phil explains how to begin solving problems before working your way to the most optimized solutions. Sign up for Round A and forge your approach → goo.gle/kickstart2023
"It's often not hard to come up with a brute-force solution that works but is too slow. From there, start thinking about how to optimize it -for example, for a dynamic programming approach, can you reduce the number of states, or the complexity of the state transition? If none of these ideas pan out, perhaps there's an important property of the input that you've yet to utilize, or a fundamentally new perspective (geometric, randomized, etc.) is needed." - Phil Sun, Software Engineer.

ALT "It's often not hard to come up with a brute-force solution that works but is too slow. From there, start thinking about how to optimize it -for example, for a dynamic programming approach, can you reduce the number of states, or the complexity of the state transition? If none of these ideas pan out, perhaps there's an important property of the input that you've yet to utilize, or a fundamentally new perspective (geometric, randomized, etc.) is needed." - Phil Sun, Software Engineer.

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⚡ #HashCode Hub applications are open! → goo.gle/3ZthTdu ❓ What's a Hub? Can anyone host? Are there any supplies I'd need? Join David and Torey to get the answers, and learn about why YOU should consider hosting a Hub ⬇️

Apply to host a Hub!

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Why compete? This #KickStartTipTuesday, Sreeramji recommends it to Improve your speed 💨 Work calmly under pressure ⏳ Motivate yourself to achieve a better rank 🏆 Check out the 2023 schedule, starting with Coding Practice with Kick Start on Feb. 24 → goo.gle/kickstart2023
"Take part in contests consistently. The time-boundness of a contest helps you get better at quickly implementing solutions and gets you acquainted with solving problems under pressure. The rank and rating associated with contests are a bonus, to motivate you further." - Sreeramji K S, Software Engineer.

ALT "Take part in contests consistently. The time-boundness of a contest helps you get better at quickly implementing solutions and gets you acquainted with solving problems under pressure. The rank and rating associated with contests are a bonus, to motivate you further." - Sreeramji K S, Software Engineer.

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🥁 🥁 🥁 The 2023 competition schedule is now LIVE on our website! Registration opens Feb. 1, meaning NOW is the time to check out round schedules, FAQs and tutorials. 📨 You can also sign up to be notified when registration opens! → g.co/codingcompetitions
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🥳 New year, new #KickStartTipTuesday! 👓 Software engineer Saksham lays out how to make your code easily readable for debugging. Registration for Kick Start opens Feb. 1, meaning it's the perfect time to use these tips on our problem archive → goo.gle/3VeeegB
"Using meaningful identifiers can help you read and debug your own code. Use descriptive variable names, break down your logic into functions, and encapsulate complex data structures into classes." - Saksham Aggarwal, Software engineer.

ALT "Using meaningful identifiers can help you read and debug your own code. Use descriptive variable names, break down your logic into functions, and encapsulate complex data structures into classes." - Saksham Aggarwal, Software engineer.

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It's the final problem walk-through from the 2022 Code Jam World Finals, and it's a doozy. ⚠️ No contestant was able to solve "Triangles" in the allotted time. Watch problem author Pablo Heiber visually explain the geometry problem ▶️ goo.gle/3vGhc33
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✨ It's the year's last #KickStartTipTuesday! ✨ Take Karim's advice and check out the Kick Start FAQs, where we lay out everything from eligibility and registration to our platform and scoring → goo.gle/3hxh6Y5 📢 And sign up to get email alerts for 2023 registration!
"1. Be sure to master at least one language. It will help you code faster and avoid obvious bugs. 2. Read the question carefully. Most bugs are a result of missing details in the problem statement. 3. Remember to go through the FAQ prior to the round. There is valuable information on error codes and code snippets in there.” - Karim Fatehi, Engineering Manager.

ALT "1. Be sure to master at least one language. It will help you code faster and avoid obvious bugs. 2. Read the question carefully. Most bugs are a result of missing details in the problem statement. 3. Remember to go through the FAQ prior to the round. There is valuable information on error codes and code snippets in there.” - Karim Fatehi, Engineering Manager.

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🐶 "Schrödinger and Pavlov" bring their cats and dogs together in this unusual dynamic programming problem from the 2022 Code Jam World Finals. 🐱 Just 9 competitors received the full 50 points for this problem. Mohamed Yosri Ahmed lays it out visually → goo.gle/3BXjwGd
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Competing can be a huge confidence boost, but what about when you feel disappointed in yourself? 😢 This #KickStartTipTuesday, Kazi says it's crucial to channel your frustration into motivation. And remember — there's always another chance to compete! 🥹 goo.gle/3YBxVBO
"Never stop learning new things! When you get bashed in a contest, try a problem for so long but can't figure it out, and look into the solution after the contest with frustration — these are the moments when you truly improve yourself. This is one of the factors that differentiates one contestant from another — how quickly you overcome the disappointment after a bad contest and master the algorithms or tricks that were necessary for the problems there." - Kazi Zubaer, Software engineer.

ALT "Never stop learning new things! When you get bashed in a contest, try a problem for so long but can't figure it out, and look into the solution after the contest with frustration — these are the moments when you truly improve yourself. This is one of the factors that differentiates one contestant from another — how quickly you overcome the disappointment after a bad contest and master the algorithms or tricks that were necessary for the problems there." - Kazi Zubaer, Software engineer.

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🛝 Slides, slides everywhere! "Slide Parade" from the 2022 Code Jam World Finals wasn't what it appeared to be — it seemed to be about paths, but ended up being a matching problem. Glide through the solution with Timothy Buzzelli → goo.gle/3W0x3F6
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🎆 This milestone year for Kick Start was achievable because of Googlers and participants alike. Thank you for joining us. And we can't wait to unveil what's in store next year! Registration for the 2023 season will open on Feb. 1. Learn more → goo.gle/3FSRBtq
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In 2022, Kick Start participants submitted 42 million (!) lines of code. Nearly 1,200 Googlers helped us keep up with our growth, working on problem development, dogfooding, and round monitoring. 💖 Like Bartosz, many competed in Kick Start themselves before joining Google.
"A lot of people that I talked with who participated in Kick Start, felt that it helped them learn new things and advance in their careers - and that is all without huge pressure. Kick Start has a very friendly atmosphere as we have multiple rounds in which we don’t eliminate people so everyone can participate in as many rounds as they want." - Bartosz Kostka, Software Developer and Kick Start volunteer

ALT "A lot of people that I talked with who participated in Kick Start, felt that it helped them learn new things and advance in their careers - and that is all without huge pressure. Kick Start has a very friendly atmosphere as we have multiple rounds in which we don’t eliminate people so everyone can participate in as many rounds as they want." - Bartosz Kostka, Software Developer and Kick Start volunteer

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By 2020, our team was ready to pilot a new program: Coding Practice with Kick Start. ▶️ These practice sessions feature no timer, starter code and detailed solution walkthrough videos. And this year, participants got to troubleshoot issues with Googlers in real time.
Photo of the Kick Start team at the Code Jam World Finals in NYC, NY, August 2022.

ALT Photo of the Kick Start team at the Code Jam World Finals in NYC, NY, August 2022.

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When Kick Start launched in 2013, it was a regional competition in Asia with only 3 rounds and 13 problems. 🌍 Today, it's gone global with 8 rounds and 32 Googler-created problems, giving anyone, anywhere the opportunity to join.
"My best piece of advice to folks looking to improve their competitive programming skills is to keep practicing! It's so important to keep trying out past problems when you have down time and participating in upcoming rounds. That's why we host rounds throughout the year, so you have a lot of chances to practice and improve." - LIzzie Sapiro Santor, Kick Start Program Manager

ALT "My best piece of advice to folks looking to improve their competitive programming skills is to keep practicing! It's so important to keep trying out past problems when you have down time and participating in upcoming rounds. That's why we host rounds throughout the year, so you have a lot of chances to practice and improve." - LIzzie Sapiro Santor, Kick Start Program Manager

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Increasing difficulty is 🔑 to progress. Sreeramji has #KickStartTipTuesday advice perfect for your winter break: Push yourself at the ideal difficulty level by picking up where you left off in-round. Find your starting point in our problem archive → goo.gle/3VeeegB
"For faster progress, it's crucial to solve problems that are outside your comfort zone and are of the right difficulty for you. With time, as you get comfortable, keep increasing the difficulty. A good way to pick problems with the right difficulty is to solve the next 1 or 2 problems that you were not able to solve during a past contest." - Sreeramji K S, Software engineer.

ALT "For faster progress, it's crucial to solve problems that are outside your comfort zone and are of the right difficulty for you. With time, as you get comfortable, keep increasing the difficulty. A good way to pick problems with the right difficulty is to solve the next 1 or 2 problems that you were not able to solve during a past contest." - Sreeramji K S, Software engineer.

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We're back with another Code Jam World Finals 2022 problem walkthrough! 🕵️‍♀️🦆 Just 5 of 26 finalists solved "Goose, Goose, Ducks?" for full points. This one was unusual for a contest: a logic-based problem. Samiksha Gupta lays out how to find the ducks → goo.gle/3FBfJAz
An illustration labeled Goose, Goose, Ducks shows ducks and a goose at various location and times. Text says Evidence: Duck meeting point (all ducks are present), and Geese meetings, A goose claims that it and another goose were both at the meeting point. Gooose 2 is really a duck in disguise, because it was contradicted by Goose 3. Goose 1 is also a duck in disguise, since it lied about Goose 2.

ALT An illustration labeled Goose, Goose, Ducks shows ducks and a goose at various location and times. Text says Evidence: Duck meeting point (all ducks are present), and Geese meetings, A goose claims that it and another goose were both at the meeting point. Gooose 2 is really a duck in disguise, because it was contradicted by Goose 3. Goose 1 is also a duck in disguise, since it lied about Goose 2.

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🕒 Keep an eye on the time 🛠️ Build from a stable foundation ⬆️ Upsolve In this #KickStartTipTuesday, Lakshya advises on optimizing points and improving your skills after a round. Itching to try his tips? Use these previous Kick Start problems → goo.gle/3VeeegB
"Time management, building on a foundation, and upsolving are some things that have helped me during and after contests. I always started with a solution that would not be the most optimal but could help me gain a few points. After a reasonable amount of time (~8-10 min) if I could not arrive at the most optimal solution, I marked the question for later. When I revisited a problem, I made sure to build on my previous solution by trying to clearly identify things that could be further optimized. I also made sure to upsolve after every contest." - Lakshya Agrawal, Software engineer.

ALT "Time management, building on a foundation, and upsolving are some things that have helped me during and after contests. I always started with a solution that would not be the most optimal but could help me gain a few points. After a reasonable amount of time (~8-10 min) if I could not arrive at the most optimal solution, I marked the question for later. When I revisited a problem, I made sure to build on my previous solution by trying to clearly identify things that could be further optimized. I also made sure to upsolve after every contest." - Lakshya Agrawal, Software engineer.

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