Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, "maybe we shouldn't build that".
Also, "No, it's not worth all of the hacks and shortcuts it would take to get it done in the given time. We need to cut features, not quality."
lol
I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
141–150 of 164 posts
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#142This guy ties his ego to his code, and assumes everyone does the same. The proposed solution is to not devalue the person by devaluing the code. This seems exactly backwards to me. Disconnecting ego from the work was the first big lesson I had when I started working in software. I hear parallel ideas from friends across industries, in fact an electrical contractor explained to me how he expects it of his apprentices…
> Disconnecting ego from the work was the first big lesson I had when I started working in software
I wish it was my first big lesson, it took me way to long to learn and my mental health suffered greatly until I did.
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#143"If a guy brings me his code, and it has mistakes, it brings insane pleasure from how smart I feel ... And if you tell me that you haven’t had this feeling ever, then you’re lying." I can tell you I haven't had this feeling ever, but not for reasons I'm proud of. I hate doing code reviews. I have hated doing every one. I have disliked having to type every comment I have made on a code review. Each time I hope that ev…
I can't say I enjoyed code reviewing but I never felt like I was being mean to my teammates. I was really happy when a teammate found a bug in code review of my code rather than that bug getting checked in. I was also really happy when they shared knowledge and I learned something. Maybe they shared a pattern I was unfamiliar with or maybe they pointed out an existing function I could use I didn't know was in the cod…
Bugs are easy.... you just point out the bug and move on... design flaws are hard... it's hard to bring up the fact that while yes, your module solves this one immediate problem, it was written so rigidly that two sprints from now the whole thing will need to be re-written scratch. Or maybe you took a particular approach that seemed easy to implement, but it won't do async stuff properly and so it needs to be re-worked from the ground up. And I get you solved your immediate problem for your immediate task, but whoever works on this next is going to have to completely re-think the approach and that's not theoretical, that next week when we add more behavior.
You ever worked on a team a where someone would go write code in their own crazy way that wouldn't follow any sort of existing pattern or take advantage of existing tooling? So they spend like a week on a simple task because they re-wrote the strings.c because they didn't want to include it? Yeah, they get fired eventually, but they are the worst to write code reviews for, because you go into it just thinking WTH, why are they doing it this way, this entire approach is convoluted and error-prone and rigid and fragile and complicated.
If a super engineer has advice for me on how to deal with this stuff, I'm all ears. I usually just ignore it unless it directly impacts me and then go back and re-write it when we have to add on to it/make it interop with some more code/release it as an available API.
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#144Oof, talk about burying the lede:
My personality today isn’t my disease. It’s a disease of the whole industry, at least in Russia. Our mentality is predicated on the cult of power and superiority. And that’s what we need to fix: just stop being that. It’s quite easy, actually.
A bit of irony in the, "It’s quite easy, actually," given the thesis. I can't imagine a harder talent to learn than emotional intelligence. I would rather teach someone...I dunno...concurrent programming than how to stop being an asshole.
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#145>imagined how I could’ve solved it, and looked at the code. As always, it was pure rubbish. Nowhere near the solution I could’ve come up with.
I hate this. This always shows a developer whose only idea of a good developer is himself.
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#146As a professional, I got tired of being mean, so I switched to a different review style where I ask questions instead. I would still ask a lot of questions. Then I started to worry that I was coming across as passive-aggressive, that these suggestions would be taken as veiled demands to fix things. As a countermeasure, sometimes I'd explicitly say things like, "you can submit this as-is, but here are a bunch of thing…
So you want to write each feature/bugfix three times? What kind of company that's still in business does that? I worked with an engineer who would sometimes rewrite my perfectly fine pull requests and it didn't go well. What an absolute waste of time and company resources. Maybe if the code is utter shit and it can't be fixed by the original engineer, you would need to fire him and rewrite it. Otherwise I can't see any situation where a business would be ok with such a massive waste of resources.
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#147When did code reviews become so ubiquitous? Articles complaining about the reality of code reviews seem to be commonplace. But if they're not working out, why not just abandon them, maybe try something different?
I'd argue that if you have a toxic team culture then no matter what you do things will escalate. Code reviews are a focal point but if they didn't exist then the focal point would move somewhere else. For example, engineer A commits some code and then engineer B rewrites it and then they get into an argument about it during a meeting. Toxicity in code reviews is at least auditable so a pro-active manager can nip it v…
I don't think "toxic team culture" is the only way code reviews get frustrating. Other issues include frustrating waiting for reviews to be completed or the flip-side of people being knocked out of flow to do a review because "reviews are top priority". Relatedly, arguments about what the appropriate size is for a reviewable change.
The one alternative that (some) code-review advocates seem willing to accept is XP-style full-time pair programming. But that leaves even less room for individuality and solo accomplishment.
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#148As a professional, I got tired of being mean, so I switched to a different review style where I ask questions instead. I would still ask a lot of questions. Then I started to worry that I was coming across as passive-aggressive, that these suggestions would be taken as veiled demands to fix things. As a countermeasure, sometimes I'd explicitly say things like, "you can submit this as-is, but here are a bunch of thing…
You don't think that rewriting someone else's patch would be considered rather arrogant? I've worked with a guy who's attitude to most things was "OK, let's submit this for now, I'll rewrite this later". I found that to be rather demoralizing, why would anyone bother to put in their best work when it's just not going to be good enough for this "god of programming".
I agree with the approach of asking questions and making comments like "some things to consider with this approach".
Generally speaking I find that code reviews are invaluable, but it takes some practice and good language skills to find the right "style" and wording in order to appear constructive vs. bossy know it all.
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#149This author sounds like he would be a poison pill on any team.
We recently managed to get rid of someone that wasa this sure of himself that he had the impression that he carried the team.
While his technical skill was sound (though no better than any halfway-decent senior developer) the reality was he was a poor communicator, kept knowledge to himself, posted snarky comments on reviews and cast apersions on everybody else's skills.
He was an egomaniac and the team has fared much better without him.
If you ever find yourself with a team member like the author of this blog post, be mindful of the damage they can cause because of their own inflated sense of self-worth.
Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry
#150ruin? as in still present tense? really? ok