Programming Guide to Absolute newbies

I have got messages from many students in different years of their undergraduate asking for a direction to start in the world of competitive programming and subsequently achieve their career goals. Though I am not the best person to guide someone regarding this, I'll do my bit to share my experience with the aspirants out there.

For freshman (1^st year students)

First of all, focus on your college curriculum. If you don't get satisfied with the teachings of your professor, try to find similar courses on MOOC platforms like Coursera, edX, udacity, etc. Learn a programming language like C++ or Java especially for competitive programming. You can also learn C, Python, or other development languages.

Some reference material for C++

https://developers.google.com/edu/c++/

Beginning C++ Programming - From Beginner to Beyond

For Sophomores  (2^nd year students)

Some online materials for competitive programming are listed below:

HackerEarth Codemonk Tutorials

TopCoder Tutorials

Some online platforms for practice are:

CodeChef    |    Hackerrank    |    HackerEarth    |    Codeforces

Beyond competitive programming, one can also learn some development frameworks according to his/her interest including but not limited to:

• Web development (Javascript, AngularJS, etc for FrontEnd and Django, NodeJS, etc for Backend)
• Machine Learning
• Network Security

For Penultimates (3^rd year students)

This will be the internship and placement preparation year for undergraduate students. Here are some websites for preparation material for placements.

LeetCode    |    InterviewBit    |    GeeksForGeeks

Besides coding and development, one should also dive into some System Design concepts to land a job at good companies. Here are some links to learn System Design concepts:

System Design Primer    |    Gaurav Sen Youtube Videos

Some students also want to prepare for higher study exams like GATE, GRE, CAT, GMAT, etc. Since I have cracked GATE CSE 2019 with AIR 03, I can suggest some tips for its preparation. To know more about GATE visit this link.

I have intentionally left the Final year students as there are no specific guidelines for them to follow. Just improve on what you have learned in 3 years.

Finally, I have laid a tentative roadmap for the students who don't know or have proper guidelines regarding how to utilize their 4 years in college. This roadmap is not necessary nor sufficient to have a good career after college but it will definitely help some students to get a kickstart in their learning journey 😄

Leave out the comments for any suggestions.