Hello folks, I hope you all are doing well.

This is Tejas a pre-final year Btech computer science and Engineering student, in my first year I solved around 200 problems of Data Structure and Algorithms and then when I came to the second year I left solving that and focused on leetcode. But after getting rejected from multiple companies I realized that DSA and CP are most important thing to clear. And i need to have a job till my graduation ends It is so important to me.

I want some help as I am a newbie on codeforces, can you guys please tell me these things? -> given that, side by side I am working on projects as well. 1. How can I be good in an optimized way under 6 months as I have not more than that?

1. What strategy to follow to solve questions?

2. While up solving the contest how much level should I try, should I up solve all the questions of just those which are a few above my rating?

3. What mistakes to avoid?

4. Lastly I want a small peer group for this where I can discuss my doubts and problems so we can be friends on CF may be of same rating or slightly above?

And i guess this might be a problem of a lot, so those who have tackled this condition please suggest something. Thanks in advance