712 Problems Later: What 500+ Days of DSA Really Taught Me

Source: Dev.to

When I started solving DSA problems, I didn’t plan to reach 700+. I just wanted to get better—one problem a day.

Current stats

• 712 problems solved
• 1,030 submissions in the past year
• 325 active days
• 124‑day 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, feel smart, and think interviews will be easy. Then Medium problems hit—sliding window, binary search on answer, monotonic stack. Confidence drops, but real growth starts.

200–400 Problems – Pattern Recognition Begins

Around 200 problems, something changes. You stop seeing random questions and start recognizing patterns:

• “This is just two pointers.”
• “This is a variation of prefix sum.”
• “This smells like a monotonic stack.”

You no longer panic; you analyze. That shift is powerful.

400–600 Problems – Discipline > Motivation

Most people quit here, not because problems are hard, but because consistency is hard.

• 325 active days means I showed up almost every day—sometimes 5 problems, sometimes just 1.
• Even when college assignments were heavy, projects were pending, or I didn’t feel like solving anything, I kept showing up.

Streaks build discipline, and discipline builds skill.

The 124‑Day Streak

124 days in a row wasn’t about ego; it was about identity. I stopped asking “Should I solve today?” and started thinking “I solve daily.” A small difference with massive impact.

The Reality About Hard Problems

Only 29 Hard problems solved, and that’s okay.

• Medium problems build foundation.
• Hard problems test depth, forcing me to think longer, break problems into parts, and analyze time complexity carefully.

They humbled me, and I needed that.

What 1,030 Submissions Actually Means

It means I failed, debugged, optimized, and resubmitted—a lot.

DSA isn’t about getting AC on the first try. It’s about thinking until something clicks.

How This Changed My Backend Thinking

When I optimized my /leaderboard API from 200 ms to 20 ms, that mindset came from DSA. It 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, still struggle with DP, and 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 1,000 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.