Levels, and a leaderboard anyone can see

AlgoPath has counted your points for a while. Prove a step, earn points, climb the board.

Points have a problem. They score you. They never say what to do next.

"Earn 40 more points" is not a task. Nobody can act on it.

AlgoPath now has levels. A level is built out of topics.

Eight rungs

AlgoPath has eight levels: Newcomer, Apprentice, Practitioner, Engineer, Specialist, Expert, Master, Architect.

You reach a rung by closing whole topics. Not by collecting points.

Apprentice wants Foundations. Practitioner wants Big-O, arrays and hash tables. Each rung lists everything it needs.

A topic closes when every step in it is proven. Your own code. Its own tests.

Half a topic earns nothing. That is deliberate. Cherry-picking the easy steps across five topics leaves five holes. Closing one topic leaves none.

A rung, once reached, stays yours. Requirements may get stricter later. Nobody drops back down.

Every rung has its own page. It names the topics it wants. It says how many steps that is. The full ladder is here, open to anyone.

The number that helps

Your dashboard now says what is left.

"Next level: Engineer. 13 steps to go. Two pointers and windows: 1 of 5."

A concrete next step is a task. You can open the site tomorrow and do part of it.

The old line said "#7 · 42 pts". It scored you. It never pointed anywhere.

The board is open now

The leaderboard used to sit behind the login. Only the people already competing could watch the competition. That is a strange way to run a contest.

The leaderboard is public now. Anyone can look. Names, avatars, points, steps proven, level.

Search engines are told to stay away. A visitor can read it. Google does not index it.

A checkbox on your profile lets you opt out of appearing. It removes you from the table, the rankings, and your player card.

One switch, one effect. Your own progress is untouched either way.

Mail when you climb

Reach a rung and one short email arrives. It names the topic you closed. It names the rung ahead. It says how far away that rung is.

One email per level. Not one per step.

You can turn it off on your profile. The checkbox sits next to the newsletter one.

About the free steps

The first 33 steps are free. The topics after those are paid.

Engineer needs 33 steps. That is the free part exactly, to the step. So free access takes you to Engineer and stops there.

The ladder shows where the free part ends. That beats a paywall appearing with no warning.

Why the track is ordered this way: why I built AlgoPath.

What did not change

Points still rank the board. Streaks still count days. Nothing about proving a step has moved.

Levels sit on top of work you already did. Every step you have ever proven was counted. Open your dashboard and your rung is already there.

A week of practice around the rungs: how to prepare.

Go and see which one you are on.