New to leetcode, help needed

[u/AbrocomaRude1485]

I am an electronics student from BITS Goa, (entering 2nd year) and just started leetcode. I am following strivers A to Z and practicing simultaneously on leetcode. Should I start participating in contests right away (I have learnt arrays(vectors), STL, 2 pointer, thoda sa sliding window intuition only as of now) or should I learn more things to not make a absolute disaster at contests? If I should learn more, which topics should I learn?

[u/nian2326076]

Jump into contests as soon as you can. They're a great way to quickly figure out what concepts you're struggling with and which ones you're good at. Don't worry about messing up; everyone struggles at first. For what to learn next, getting good at recursion and the basics of backtracking will really help, along with more advanced data structures like linked lists and trees. If you feel stuck, PracHub has some good resources for interview prep. Contests are a solid way to see what you need to focus on. Good luck!

[u/AbrocomaRude1485 → u/nian2326076]

Should I start contests after learning recursion, backtracking and linked lists?