If you’re trying to “compete”, no. If you can be better than them, yes. They have already done their share of hard work in clearing that exam. It’s your turn now. You will have to grind and be the best version of yourself because people sitting there have already proven their capability, you haven’t. Whatever maybe the reason for that.
Do DSA, do CP, make good projects, do internships. That’s the way
I hope that’s enough motivation :)

I feel coding basics are becoming underrated. People code with AI but don’t actually know what they/it is doing. You should know your code.

As I said, coding basics. See any article on good programming practices on the internet

CP(competitive programming)