It’s just a club

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzPqp1gWfe4&t=633s

If it is, don’t read ahead. You lack passion for running it. Just think of it, what in this modern world has been accomplished without passion. Nothing. People really loved something, were driven by something and that is why pursued it. Not just because it was a means to an end. If it was, it didn’t end up as great.

It fulfils a mission that you truly believe in and want to spread. You really are happy when the members of the club succeed or even surpass you. You just become selfless and give yourself to the club. This is when the club thrives. You think what’s best for the club, not for you. You are the Mother, (he he he).

College Clubs (in India) are rarely run by passionate people. They just want to maintain what had happened last year, or keep doing the same kind of stuff. It’s never new. The issue is that, the majority of the people’s purpose for being in the club is getting an LoR from their faculties. So they do their best to please them, not the people that the club is made to serve. So first thing, run it with passion and serve the purpose of the club not some ulterior motive of yours.

For a club to succeed, the members within should also love it. Create a cult (No sacrificing). All the people within should be bullish about the club and should feel special that they are part of this amazing thing, that all others are missing out on. Make them feel special and let that energy come from within, only and only then will the members work hard for the club. It’s a niche group of cool dudes doing some crazy shit.

Now that there is a really really noice environment, ideas start flowing in. It becomes self accepting, of what is cool and you probably don’t have to push hard for making people do stuff. They really love it and do it with their own will. The start is hard, but once there is a clear foundation, building on top of it is easier. You get a great team (sometimes not) of people, it’s not just a one man show that is run with sheer will power. This enables all to do great things and fulfil the mission of the club.

When you look back, and see where you have come, you will cry. Seeing the current state you will cry. Seeing the people that have been impacted by it, you will cry. You have shed the blood, sweat and tears for it. It’s your baby. It has matured and is reaching new and great heights. That is one of the best feelings on Earth.

The purpose of the blog is fulfilled. Now I am just writing about my experience running CodeStars. If you wish to tag along, just find a nice place to sit and finish this in a single reading.

For those who don’t know what CodeStars is. It was my life. It was what I loved truly from the bottom of my heart. Note: I am straight, and am actively in search of a girlfriend. If you feel that you are a good fit do leave a comment or feel free to slide into my DMs. Coming to the point, CodeStars is a Competitive Programming club at DJSCE.

. . . It was probably May 20, 2021. I get a call from Gaurish Baliga. My best friend. IDK if I am his :blush:. I heard his voice after a very very very very long time. The very very very very long time is a story for another occasion. He called to meet me, near his place and we discussed quite some stuff. My JEE was fucked up. I had not studied a single thing during lockdown. I was in a very bad state. We made a plan, and I started studying for JEE. I did study enough to get into DJSCE.

Gaurish then introduced me to this beautiful thing called Competitive Programming. You solve certain questions through code. It’s magic. I really really loved it. Thank You.

Fast forward to my second year in college, we get to join clubs and committees for which we sit for interviews. I had my mind on CodeStars and S4DS. CodeStars was a dead club. All my friends made fun of me for joining it. But I literally didn’t care, because that was the club I wanted to join. The CP club of the college. Not many club activities happened. A few lectures here and there were organized and 2 small events a year. The cumulative prize pool of both the events was Rs. 10k. Not much in a college where hackathons have a prize pool of at least Rs 100k. The chairperson then Parth Pawar, used to conduct lectures, and he also really really loved the club. He made sure it was not completely dead. Hardly anyone in the college touched CP apart from a few people that were part of CodeStars.

After the final event of CodeStars, the seniors, Alan and I went for dinner at McDonalds near college. (Alan was the only other guy that did CP in my batch. We met at CodeStars and were really passionate about CP.) We were having food and all of a sudden Parth says, “We will be dissolving CodeStars next year.” I was in utter shock. It’s like breaking up. Quite often you don’t want it to happen but it is happening. You were looking forward to the amazing times ahead but now it’s just not going to exist. The main reason for this was that people didn’t take up CP and it felt that all the efforts were going in vain. It really hurt. Also none of our seniors were people going in their final year who were ready to take up the higher positions (Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, etc.). Alan and I tried to persuade not to do it, but it happened anyway.

Until October 2023. The faculties suddenly realise, there is no one running this club. The final years still refuse to take up those positions. Now they let us have them in our third year. The interview forms were out and 22 people applied for the Core (Heads of the respective departments such as creatives, marketing, etc.. as well as Chairperson and Vice Chairperson). 22 People formed the Core of the club. All of them were selected. At this point at least it existed. Now it was our job to take it forward and improve the CP culture in the college.

In our second year as part of CodeStars, we had organized a FE contest and constantly persuaded quite a few of them to do Competitive Programming. For this, after every contest Alan and I used to meet and discuss our approaches, we also invited them. This was so that they remained motivated and we can brainwash, ahem ahem, help them stay focused on Competitive Programming. This was now rebranded to Post Contest Discussions by CodeStars and a few more people started attending them. The thing was that, any junior I met, I just made them make a CF account and Codechef account and told them to give contests regularly. Attend the PCDs so that again there is some connection and they continue doing Competitive Programming. At least doing my bit at a personal level. That is where the passion I spoke about earlier comes in handy. You really want to fulfil that end goal and nothing else. Fast forward we recruited juniors in the club as co-com and the tech team (closest to my heart) were almost all doing CP or people with the most potential. There was a direct connection with them, so they became the people that spread the word. The passion is somewhat contagious and I think they really felt good at the club, because we were on a mission. They all connected to a certain degree with it. Some more than others. A cult was formed.

We had an event called Code Bounty where we made a CP contest from scratch for the FEs, hosted a post contest discussion of the event and asked all of them to continue CP. More people joined and the culture was thriving. We had around 10 Pupils by that time. Which is insane. Then came Code UnCode which deserves a blog in itself. It was a crazy event in collaboration with KJSCE CodeCell and CSI SPIT. India’s biggest CP event after ICPC. Rs 100k prize money for a CP event. Just crazy. I learnt a lot there. I learnt how to host something this big, how to work in teams and work with other people. Just to make ends meet and get the prize pool Gaurish and I participated in a CP contest and all the prize money went to Code UnCode. It was a very revealing experience. I almost did all the work alone, but here I learnt how to designate and get work done. Rather than me doing it myself. It was a really crazy event, just look it up on LinkedIn you can find a few photos. I will also add some of them below. This event probably set the foundation, and I hope it will inspire CPers from the college in the coming years.

Stuff was going great and people were starting to do CP, the foundation was set and just then 2 companies decided to hire interns from the college. UBS and Google. UBS hired 4 people and 2 were from CodeStars. Google also took 4, 3 were from CodeStars. Another one got the SWE intern offer off campus. Woahh. These MNCs come and take people from CodeStars. Damn. Their hard work had a tangible result that could be shown to the world. We marketed that stuff really really well and the faculties started taking us seriously and the principal also took interest in the club. We spread this news like wildfire and more and more people started doing CP. The barrier to entry was already low. We had made it less intimidating.

Opportunities arrive only for the prepared. These guys were prepared, had put in the hard work for the past year and that is why they cracked UBS and Google internships. If there was no effort in the first place, there would be no chance CodeStars would be able to make use of these companies coming on campus. It was a blessing.

We selected the next set of leaders of CodeStars and the cycle continues. I was still involved, because how the fuck can I not be. I had given my everything to this club and its mission in the past year. How could I just stop caring about it? But I realised, there are other things too that should be focused on. I slowly reduced my involvement. That was a great learning phase. All the people cooperated happily in the transition away from CodeStars. It’s still hard but I have gotten over it.

These guys have done a decent job at running it. Recently an event called Coffee With Googlers was hosted, the rush to get inside the hall was insane. Even the teachers had trouble getting in. There were probably more than 200 people in that passage wanting to get through that one door. To think that there would be such excitement for a CodeStars event :tears of joy:. We have come a long way.

I have made lasting friendships while I was part of CodeStars. I hope they continue beyond CodeStars :fingers crossed:. It’s been a wild ride. I have learnt a lot. Thank You for bearing me. Thank You for being part of my life. Thank You for all that you have done.

There are a lot of things I couldn’t write here so just ask anything else you want to know from me. It is my first time writing something like this, so if you have made it till here, please share some sort of feedback in the comments or you can mail me too. I hope you really enjoyed it and do anything and everything with passion. Have purpose and never give up until you succeed. :rocket:

Here are some photos. Yay.

The McDonalads table where Parth said, "We are dissolving CodeStars." but just a year later.

Code UnCode

Coffee With Googlers.

The latest generation

A year ago, the Competitive Programming (CP) club at our college was a small, almost hidden community. At that time, only two of us actively participated in CP contests: I was a Pupil, and my friend was a Specialist. Fast forward to today, and our club has grown dramatically. We now proudly have five Experts among us, a testament to our collective effort and passion.

How did we achieve this transformation? It wasn’t magic; it was a combination of strategic initiatives and a supportive environment. We organized engaging events like Code UnCode (You can search about it on LinkedIn), which not only challenged the students in the college but also sparked their interest and excitement. After every Codeforces (CF) and CodeChef (CC) round, we hold Post Contest Discussions. These sessions have become a cornerstone of our community, where members can share their strategies, learn from each other, and collectively improve their skills.

But perhaps most importantly, we celebrated every achievement, no matter how small. After each contest, I made it a point to congratulate everyone who changed colors, marking their progress and dedication. As our club grew, keeping track of these changes became a challenge. So, I wrote a script to automate this process. You can find the script on GitHub. This script fetches the names and handles of all the people who have changed colors for the first time – becoming Experts, Candidate Masters, Masters, or Grandmasters after a given contest. We proudly share these achievements on our Discord Server, celebrating each milestone together.

I encourage everyone to promote CP culture in their colleges. The rewards are immense, both in terms of skill development and community building.

However, my script isn’t without its issues. Sometimes, it returns a None response when fetching user lists. It would be wonderful if a generative AI could automate sending congratulatory personalized emails, but I don’t have access to the email IDs linked to their CF account Any suggestions for resolving these issues or improving the script are welcome. Do use the script or even modify it to your liking for doing any kind of such work.

I’m also working on a version of the script for CodeChef, and I’ll keep everyone posted once it’s ready.

Let’s continue to foster a vibrant CP culture in our colleges and support each other in our programming journeys!