7 Tips I Wish I Knew Before Clearing All HackerRank Python Challenges

That will boost your coding speed and efficiency

When you code, be like water. — Photo by author

I recently published a piece about how I cleared all HackerRank SQL challenges in two weeks. It was a fun ride, and there’s no reason not to ride on the momentum and brush up my Python skills. So here I am, three weeks later, writing this article sharing my experience and tips with you on what I’ve learned from the journey. There will be no code in this article, so worry not even if you know squat about Python or Hackerrank. This article will share seven tips that I wish I know before I start doing Hackerrank challenges. This article is about Python challenges, yet it will also generalize to other languages and other competitive programming platforms. I hope you can learn a thing or two. Let’s jump right in!

Tip #1: Start Easy, and Gently Work Your Way Up

Like most other competitive programming platforms, HackerRank groups challenges into different difficulty levels. When you first start, the best way is to use the filters on the right side, start from the ‘Easy’ ones, then gradually work your way down the difficulty chain.