It's Never Too Late

 Why am I writing this blog?

Lately, my mind has been buzzing with thoughts about how I want to lead my life. It’s not just about my career—I trust I’ll figure that out if I focus on the right things now. It’s more about nurturing my passion for machines and my love for mathematics, even though my first attempts often fall short.


I have a background in mathematics. I’ve competed in Olympiads, and I’ve seen what it’s like out there. Meeting people like Terence Tao and Po-Shen Loh or hearing about them is one thing, but seeing the gap between them and me, coming from a developing country, is another. What does it matter where I’m from? It does matter. My national championship experience felt less competitive, giving me an edge. But I wasn’t dedicating the right resource —time. Even when I did spend the last 18 months focusing solely on the Olympiad, it only took me so far. I was diving into advanced concepts before my fundamentals were solid. It was luck that a question in the National contest came from the Short List—a massive collection of incredibly tough questions. I’m grateful to those who helped me prepare.

Before math took center stage, I was introduced to programming, this beautiful world where a few lines of code could make a machine perform tasks for me. I spent three years away from programming, which I now realize was a significant setback. But that’s why I chose this title for my blog. I have time ahead of me. People start at different points in life, and age is just a number. My goal is to be better than I was yesterday—to eliminate procrastination and perfectionism and to embrace both calm and chaos in equal measure.

When I was around 15, a programmer was born inside me. I loved solving problems from textbooks, helping my friends with their programs, and discussing logic. I was captivated by that little blue screen and the satisfaction of hitting F5 to see if my code worked. The hours I spent grinding, making programs work, and learning new ones just to broaden my horizons, those moments shaped me. If only I had known about competitive programming back then. Having a mentor would have been invaluable, but I found out about it eventually. A mentor may be necessary for success, but it isn’t always sufficient.

A wise man once said, "You can only connect the dots looking backward." My passion for machines and my Olympiad background point me toward competitive programming (CP). It’s a perfect match for me now. But for that, I need to build up my skills—mastering DSA, C++, Java, and taking on Codeforces problem sets.




I’m excited for what lies ahead and look forward to meeting a better version of myself every day.

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