Gist Shows the current implementation of how TopCoder assigns placement in a room.

updateCoderPlacement O(n^2)

x = [];
n = 35000;

for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
  x.push({
    userName: Math.random(),
    totalPoints: Math.random() * 100000,
  })
}

time = new Date().getTime();

// Implementation "bubbles" down the placement, which takes big-theta(n^2) *I think ;-;*
updateCoderPlacement = function (coders) {
   coders.forEach(function (item) {
        item.roomPlace = 1;
        coders.forEach(function (other) {
            if (item.userName !== other.userName && item.totalPoints < other.totalPoints) {
                item.roomPlace += 1;
            }
        });
    });
};

updateCoderPlacement(x);

console.log('Total Time in updateCoderPlacement:', (new Date().getTime() - time) / 1000, 'seconds.');
// Total Time in updateCoderPlacement: 50.688 seconds.