Is coding really tough for beginners? Well, practicing coding & participating in competitive programming can make it really easy to master programming. These coding challenges or contests offer the best opportunity to assess your coding skills & proficiency by letting you compare yourself with other programmers across the world. 

In this article, you are going to learn about 5 websites that can help you to practice coding. These websites are prominent in the field of coding and they provide assessments and tests that can help you practice coding and master it.

Why Practice Coding on Online Technical Platforms?

Before going in-depth about practicing coding on online technical platforms, first, you must understand the need to do this. These may seem insignificant to many and tiring work too. But this is one of the most important things to do while learning coding as practical knowledge is important.

Practicing coding on online technical platforms serves as an invaluable resource for skill development and growth in the ever-evolving landscape of programming.

These platforms offer a dynamic space where individuals can engage with a plethora of coding challenges, catering to various difficulty levels and encompassing a broad spectrum of programming languages, algorithms, and data structures.

By actively participating in these challenges, aspiring coders and experienced developers alike can enhance their problem-solving prowess, refine their coding techniques, and expand their knowledge horizons.

Moreover, online coding platforms provide instant feedback, a crucial element in the learning process. Swift feedback on code submissions helps individuals understand mistakes and inefficiencies, fostering an iterative learning approach.

The competitive aspect, often present in coding contests and leaderboards, nurtures a sense of motivation and achievement, driving continuous improvement. This practice also simulates real-world scenarios, equipping coders with practical skills that can be seamlessly applied in actual software development projects.

Overall, these platforms cultivate a supportive community, offering a space to learn, collaborate, and thrive as programmers in a rapidly changing technological landscape.

If you want to gain mastery over an essential and widely used programming language, you can explore JavaScript through GUVI’s JavaScript self-paced certification course.

What are the Top 5 Websites to Practice Coding?

Competitive programming opens doors for various scholarships, rewards, jobs & internships. Here, we have curated the Top 5 websites that provide the most essential coding exercises to practice coding through hands-on experience.

1. HackerRank

HackerRank is a technical interview platform. This platform serves well for beginners so you can safely write your first program “Hello World” to get started. It’s a pretty good UI with boilerplate code pre-written will help beginners to start competitive coding.

About 8 different coding challenges hosted by HackerRank cover topics that include algorithms, Java,  Ruby, Python, Data structures & algorithms. The practicing users can earn badges by solving challenges on the HackerRank website and these badges will be added to their profile.

You need to note that this website’s contests come at a price of about $25/month for interview content & $819/month for team subscriptions.

One important drawback here is that HackerRank tends to set up exams that are erratic in nature. Users have to deal with inaccurate coding exercises and unstable connections during interviews.

2. LeetCode

LeetCode offers various weekly & biweekly programming challenges for the participants. You can start solving the challenges in their online editor, a.k.a “Playground” in any one of the supported 14 programming languages.

Generally, these challenges are run for a duration of 90 minutes. LeetCode’s playground tools help you test, debug, and write code with ease. 

A survey when done with its users showed results that Big tech companies are moving away from LeetCode-style questions: So, you can use this site to practice coding but may not really count on cracking the interview questions of tech companies of your dreams.

LeetCode Premium subscription gives access to additional tools and premium content for a monthly subscription of $35.  And, the annual fee will come to around $159. 

3. GUVI

GUVI is the trending networking platform for programmers & IT enthusiasts. While it offers self-paced courses for its learners in a vernacular approach, GUVI also hosts various industry-oriented coding contests & challenges for aspirants who wish to grow up in the programming world.

Its interactive programming practice platform ‘CodeKata’ has over 2000+ programming problem statements for its 2 million+ users to practice coding.

CodeKata categorizes its coding problems in terms of difficulty levels from easy to advanced, top companies’ most asked questions, & based on evergreen programming languages like Python, Java, JavaScript, etc. also focuses on covering the core topics of computer science, data structures & algorithms.

Various new creative coding challenges are conducted by GUVI, like, Hackathon, Code sprint, 48 hr-coding challenges, etc with high-bounty cash rewards & internship opportunities.

Alongside, a community of coders on the GUVI forum, career boot camps, and tech certification programs extend a chance for serious aspirants to Get placed in Top-tech companies through Job Placement Guidance. 

The Best Feature of CodeKata of GUVI is that… It’s absolutely Free to Practice Coding!

4. CodeChef

Code Chef’s practice problems enable you to answer the coding problems in one of over 50 programming languages. You can filter the coding problems based on difficulty levels focusing on various topics like sorting, data structures-algorithms & dynamic programming. The usage of Codechef depends upon you & your career goals.

If you are coding just to be an average coder or just to pass your examinations, then it is absolutely a waste of time. Nevertheless,

This platform also offers self-guided learning opportunities and mentoring programs like GUVI. This website follows a rating system for users to compete for hiring in top companies. You’ll need at least 2000 ratings in CodeChef to proceed forward to apply for companies to hire you.

5. TopCoder 

The TopCoder Community provides majorly 4 segments – Competitive Programming, Design, Development, & Data Science. One can build their skills, show their expertise in competitive programming, and earn money as they improve their coding abilities. 

This platform sells the individual’s work to their corporate clients & pays off the individuals for their efficient & optimized code. TopCoder acts like a hub for corporate companies to hire tech talents/freelancers through coding challenges hosted by it.

If you want to enhance your knowledge about a popular and extensively used programming language, consider gaining knowledge of Python through GUVI’s self-paced course.

Summary

Gaining coding skills requires a lot of patience. Begin participating in different competitive programming contests & get better day by day. The prerequisite would be to practice coding on the above-mentioned websites. Check what suits you the best with affordability. Get Started with Free Coding on CodeKata. These competitive coding skills will highlight your resume and accelerate you to land a job in top tech companies.

Need Step-by-Step Guidance? Get to Know How to Start Competitive Programming in 5 Simple Steps.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)

What is the best way to practice competitive programming?

The best way to practice competitive programming is by practising coding at the beginning level & then advancing to the next level by participating in small-level coding challenges(a couple of hours). After this, keep your focus on participating in hackathons conducted by various online EdTech sites like GUVI, HackerRank, Codechef, etc

Is Competitive Programming and Data Structures & Algorithms the same?

The main difference is that, Competitive Programming reflects on your ability to use the existing knowledge & skills to come up with unique solutions to new problems while Data Structures & Algorithms(DSA) reflect your ability to reproduce solutions to most frequently asked coding problems. DSA is a necessity to perform well in Competitive Programming.

Is Competitive Programming necessary for Placement?

No, It isn’t mandatory but the exposure gained through participating in such coding contests & competitive programming will brush up your current knowledge & DSA skills which help well to perform in coding interviews.

Is Competitive Programming Required for Google?

Competitive Programming is not a requirement to join Google. But, Yes! there are a lot of people who cracked companies like Google with the problem-solving skills & DSA skills gained through Competitive Programming contests.

Can I do Competitive Programming in Python?

Yes! You can participate in Competitive Programming with your Python skills. However, you can choose any programming language of your choice. Competitive Programming tests your data structure concepts and your potential to resolve complicated programming problems. Further, enabling you to write efficient, error-free & bug-free code. So, until a faster & efficient code is implemented, any programming language can be used for competitive programming.