How to get started on Atcoder- a complete guide for coders
How to get started on Atcoder
In this article, you will learn how to get started on Atcoder
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
Just as proof, the link to my Atcoder profile is pasted below
What is Atcoder?
Atcoder is a Japanese website that hosts weekly programming competitions. Although Atcoder is a Japanese website, it has decent English support as well. Atcoder has three main contests that they host regularly: Atcoder Beginners Contest (ABC contest), Atcoder Regular Contest(ARC), and Atcoder Heuristic Contest (AHC).
There are lots of other contests like the Atcoder Grand Contest that you can participate in, however, if you are a person who just started coding or Atcoder, participating mainly in Atcoder Beginners Contest is strongly recommended.
Some pros of starting Atcoder
So here are some of the very generalized bullet points of skills you can get while doing Atcoder.
- You can learn more about your favorite programming languages like Python and C#.
- You can learn some of the important algorithms that can help you in your real-world project.
- Abstract thinking As you get better at Atcoder, you need more and more skills in thinking about the problem abstractly and simply.
The rating system of Atcoder
Before getting started on sign-up and competition, there is one more important thing in Atcoder. The rating system. In Atcoder, when you participate in a competition and solve problems, your ¨rating¨ either increases or decreases depending on how well you do in the competition. For every 400 points or rating, you become a new color.
- 0-400 Grey
- 401-800 Brown (Skill level about the same as a typical college student with computer science as their major)
- 801-1000 Green
- 1001-1600 Light Blue (People at this rank will most likely fill most of the needs of the average tech company)
- 1601-2000 Blue (The skill exceeds the general high-standard requirement of all the companies)
- 2001-2400 Yellow (From here, the level reaches a point where you are ready to be competitive)
- 2401-2800 Orange
- 2801-∞ Red (The highest color)
How to start your journey
Now that we know Atcoder, let’s start the journey. This section will briefly summarize the process needed to start Atcoder from sign-up to how to guide participating in the contest.
Step 1: Create an Atcoder account
The first step for any competitor is to create an account. To do this, first visit the official Atcoder website listed below.
Then, there is a “sign up” button in the header, so click it like the image below.
Consequently, it will lead to the sign-up form, where you can fill out your new account username, password, and email. Some choices are optional, so only four of them are required. When you are ready, press the sign-up button to finalize the process.
If you have successfully created an Atcoder account, you have two choices; you can choose to wait for the competition or to try doing some sample problems before participating. From past experiences, doing some sample problems is strongly recommanded for anyone who started Atcoder.
Sample Problems
Here is the link to the practice problem. The website shows you all the steps and fundemental knowledge to participate in contests. The guide will not explain all the details here since there is better guide inside the practice contests.
Conclusion
When you are done with all of these steps, try participating competitions. It is hosted weekly, so participating every week will be helpfull with making a great start on your journey. If you want to solve past problems, Binary Fish offers several free guides, so make sure to check that out as well. Lastly, Rome isn’t built on one day. Therefore try doing Atcoder consistently, and one day you will establish your own coding Roman empire. Thank you for reading.