Code Review

Code review is the discipline of having another engineer read your changes before they merge. Done well, it catches bugs early, spreads knowledge across the team, and raises the overall quality bar over time.

The most valuable reviews focus less on style — automate that with a linter — and more on correctness, clarity, and whether the change actually solves the right problem. A good reviewer asks questions rather than issuing directives. “Did you consider X?” opens a conversation; “you should do X” closes one.

There’s a failure mode on both sides. Reviews that rubber-stamp everything offer no protection. Reviews that nitpick every line create bottlenecks, sour relationships, and teach authors to make smaller, less visible changes to avoid scrutiny. The goal is neither rubber stamp nor interrogation — it’s a focused conversation between two engineers who both want the code to be good.

Code review is also one of the best on-the-job learning tools available. Reading other people’s code, and having your own read critically, accelerates understanding of a codebase faster than almost anything else.