Need help with DSA, Competitive Programming and a bit with Life /u/SkullCandy0808 CSCQ protests reddit

Hi everyone! Hope you’re having a great day 🙂

I’m making this post on behalf of my cousin brother. For context, we’re residing Indians. He’s in 12th class about to give JEE (M) in a few weeks. He’s had a keen interest in programming since he was like 9 and has excelled in CS as a subject in school without any difficulties. He wants to get into competitive programming (college level competitions and all) and he will get a break after JEE (A) of a few months which he wishes to utilize by learning concepts which will help him achieve this target.

He’s an academically motivated student, scores high and is consistent. Programming comes naturally to him, like he doesn’t have to put in an effort to learn the code. He sort of understands what he has to do, and goes by it. He’s eager to learn, is ready to take up a realistic challenge.

I’ve got a bunch of questions, and I’ll number them. Whichever ones you guys think you can give a good input on, please mention the number and comment.

1. The Stream: He’s currently thinking of Bachelor’s Degree in Technology (Computer Science Engineering). But this is a field that’s getting saturated, and he’s afraid his future value might drop because of this. So, are there any other fields (like AI/ML) which would match his interests (computers and programming mainly)? And yes, he knows that he’ll have to study a lot of theory, and he’s had a look at the curriculums and is not dreaming a fictional dream. His goal is to align his interests with financial gain.
2. Competitive Programming: Now DSA is a really big part of this (along with other topics). The language he knows currently is only Python, but he’s aiming to learn C++ as soon as possible. Then he wishes to study DSA. He’s curious about it, and wants to win a few competitions in his college life (and help him with the studies during that time as well). He’s confused on what path to follow on this journey. There are so many roadmaps and DSA sheets and he’s puzzled on which one to follow, or if not to follow any of them. So, can you guys recommend how exactly to go by this?
3. Dilemma 1: Will doing all this really help him with college and job placements? Do competitions really matter to interviewers? Will he benefit from this?
4. Dilemma 2: This one’s far sighted, but should he do a Master’s Degree in this field? What doors does this degree open? A Physical Doctorate would be purely academic research, should he go for it?
5. Finally, anything you guys want to suggest him!

Thank you in advance to everyone who comments on this post. I’ll coordinate your replies with him and take the conversation further.

Hi everyone! Hope you’re having a great day 🙂

I’m making this post on behalf of my cousin brother. For context, we’re residing Indians. He’s in 12th class about to give JEE (M) in a few weeks. He’s had a keen interest in programming since he was like 9 and has excelled in CS as a subject in school without any difficulties. He wants to get into competitive programming (college level competitions and all) and he will get a break after JEE (A) of a few months which he wishes to utilize by learning concepts which will help him achieve this target.

He’s an academically motivated student, scores high and is consistent. Programming comes naturally to him, like he doesn’t have to put in an effort to learn the code. He sort of understands what he has to do, and goes by it. He’s eager to learn, is ready to take up a realistic challenge.

I’ve got a bunch of questions, and I’ll number them. Whichever ones you guys think you can give a good input on, please mention the number and comment.

1. The Stream: He’s currently thinking of Bachelor’s Degree in Technology (Computer Science Engineering). But this is a field that’s getting saturated, and he’s afraid his future value might drop because of this. So, are there any other fields (like AI/ML) which would match his interests (computers and programming mainly)? And yes, he knows that he’ll have to study a lot of theory, and he’s had a look at the curriculums and is not dreaming a fictional dream. His goal is to align his interests with financial gain.
2. Competitive Programming: Now DSA is a really big part of this (along with other topics). The language he knows currently is only Python, but he’s aiming to learn C++ as soon as possible. Then he wishes to study DSA. He’s curious about it, and wants to win a few competitions in his college life (and help him with the studies during that time as well). He’s confused on what path to follow on this journey. There are so many roadmaps and DSA sheets and he’s puzzled on which one to follow, or if not to follow any of them. So, can you guys recommend how exactly to go by this?
3. Dilemma 1: Will doing all this really help him with college and job placements? Do competitions really matter to interviewers? Will he benefit from this?
4. Dilemma 2: This one’s far sighted, but should he do a Master’s Degree in this field? What doors does this degree open? A Physical Doctorate would be purely academic research, should he go for it?
5. Finally, anything you guys want to suggest him!

Thank you in advance to everyone who comments on this post. I’ll coordinate your replies with him and take the conversation further.