When I started solving DSA problems, I didn’t plan to reach 700+.
I just wanted to get better.
One problem a day.
That was the goal.
Today, my stats look like this:
712 problems solved
1,030 submissions in the past year
325 active days
124 days max streak
500 Days Badge
455 Medium problems
29 Hard problems
But the numbers aren’t the story.
The journey is.
The First 100 Problems – Excitement Phase
The beginning is fun.
You solve Easy array problems.
You feel smart.
You think interviews will be easy.
Then Medium problems hit.
Sliding window?
Binary search on answer?
Monotonic stack?
That’s when confidence drops.
But that’s also where real growth starts.
200–400 Problems – Pattern Recognition Begins
Somewhere after 200 problems, something changes.
You stop seeing random questions.
You start seeing:
“This is just two pointers.”
“This is a variation of prefix sum.”
“This smells like a monotonic stack.”
You don’t panic anymore.
You analyze.
That shift is powerful.
400–600 Problems – Discipline > Motivation
This is where most people quit.
Not because problems are hard.
But because consistency is hard.
325 active days means I showed up almost every day.
Not always 5 problems.
Sometimes just 1.
But I showed up.
Even when:
College assignments were heavy
Projects were pending
I didn’t feel like solving anything
Streaks build discipline.
Discipline builds skill.
The 124-Day Streak
124 days in a row.
That wasn’t about ego.
It was about identity.
I stopped asking:
“Should I solve today?”
It became:
“I solve daily.”
Small difference.
Massive impact.
The Reality About Hard Problems
Only 29 Hard problems solved.
And that’s okay.
Because:
Medium builds foundation
Hard tests depth
Hard problems forced me to:
Think longer
Break problems into parts
Analyze time complexity carefully
They humbled me.
And I needed that.
What 1,030 Submissions Actually Means
It means:
I failed.
I debugged.
I optimized.
I resubmitted.
A lot.
DSA isn’t about getting AC in first try.
It’s about thinking until something clicks.
How This Changed My Backend Thinking
When I optimized my /leaderboard API from 200ms to 20ms,
that mindset came from DSA.
Because DSA trains you to ask:
What’s the time complexity?
Can I reduce this from O(n²) to O(n)?
Can I remove unnecessary operations?
Am I making N+1 calls?
That optimization mindset didn’t come from tutorials.
It came from solving hundreds of problems.
The Biggest Lesson
Consistency beats intensity.
712 problems didn’t happen in one summer.
They happened because I showed up 325 days.
Some days:
1 problem.
Some days:
5 problems.
But never zero for too long.
Where I Am Now
I’m not perfect.
I still get stuck.
I still struggle with DP.
I still spend 30 minutes staring at problems.
But now I don’t doubt myself.
Because I’ve built proof.
712 pieces of proof.
Final Thought
If you’re starting DSA:
Don’t aim for 1000 problems.
Aim for tomorrow.
Solve one.
Then repeat.
The streak builds.
The patterns form.
The confidence follows.
**And one day, you’ll look back and realize—
You didn’t just learn DSA.
You trained your brain to think differently.**
