Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

habr.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 164 posts

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#81

Post by finnthehuman »

iheartpotatoes wrote: post #72
Fellshard wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think diversity of skin color and gender will solve this problem in its entirety too. People of every race and every gender have the capacity to be this kind of self-centered egotist. People of every race and every gender have the capacity to be excellent developers who are focused outwards, on developing their teammates and building things well. Diversity is part of the picture, yes, but it's no instant win,…

Why did you feel the need to state the obvious? This is the kind of toxic nonsense that comes up every time someone mentions diversity. Its the status-quo "notallmen" argument again and again and again. Please, assume just for a minute that we aren't all idiots. Of -course- everyone has the capacity to be an idiot, but your unnecessary and highly defensive response is very telling.

>Why did you feel the need to state the obvious?

The implicit -- wait, no -- the explicit argument of your grandparent post is that all white men are the same.

Of course people are going to push back on that.

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#82

Post by coleifer »

My experience with having my code reviewed was overwhelming positive, if frustrating at times. There was one reviewer in particular who had a way of asking just the right questions to point the way to a better approach. It also changed the way I write code, too. Little things like naming stuff, internal consistency...I grew to have an intuition about these things.

I try to view code review as my chance to pass this on. It's about teaching someone how to read their own code with a critical mind. It's definitely not about superlatives like best, perfect, whatever.

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#83

Post by nilkn »

iheartpotatoes wrote: post #72
Fellshard wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think diversity of skin color and gender will solve this problem in its entirety too. People of every race and every gender have the capacity to be this kind of self-centered egotist. People of every race and every gender have the capacity to be excellent developers who are focused outwards, on developing their teammates and building things well. Diversity is part of the picture, yes, but it's no instant win,…

Why did you feel the need to state the obvious? This is the kind of toxic nonsense that comes up every time someone mentions diversity. Its the status-quo "notallmen" argument again and again and again. Please, assume just for a minute that we aren't all idiots. Of -course- everyone has the capacity to be an idiot, but your unnecessary and highly defensive response is very telling.

To be honest, I found myself slightly offended at your original comment, but I decided not to say anything since I agreed with the overall point you were trying to make. This response makes me feel like I have to say something though. Sometimes the person calling everything else toxic is actually a source of toxicity. Frankly, as a white guy who has been known to wear hoodies, I don't like being grouped in with toxic assholes just because of my appearance, and I think you could convey your point better by learning to phrase it in a more respectful way. Instead of trying to call out an entire group of people based on gender and skin color, just point out that it's hard for toxicity to survive when surrounded by a large variety of viewpoints and backgrounds.

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#84

Post by kodablah »

aristophenes wrote: post #13

"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…

While I have similar feelings, I enjoy code reviews on high quality code. I like reading high quality code. But yes, the enjoyment of a code review is inversely proportional to the amount of feedback required. Some people enjoy mentorship more than others, and that's ok.

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#85

Post by Fellshard »

iheartpotatoes wrote: post #72
Fellshard wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think diversity of skin color and gender will solve this problem in its entirety too. People of every race and every gender have the capacity to be this kind of self-centered egotist. People of every race and every gender have the capacity to be excellent developers who are focused outwards, on developing their teammates and building things well. Diversity is part of the picture, yes, but it's no instant win,…

Why did you feel the need to state the obvious? This is the kind of toxic nonsense that comes up every time someone mentions diversity. Its the status-quo "notallmen" argument again and again and again. Please, assume just for a minute that we aren't all idiots. Of -course- everyone has the capacity to be an idiot, but your unnecessary and highly defensive response is very telling.

I'm responding to the argument you made without attacking you for it. I would only hope you have the courtesy to do the same. Dropping it at that.

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#86

Post by kristiandupont »

remote_phone wrote: post #73

I am an notoriously tough code reviewer. Not because I’m mean, but I’m thorough and consistent. I’m never passive aggressive and simply factual. But newer team members can find dozens of comments until they understand what my expectations are. I can generally differentiate between personal opinion and bad form. I rarely comment on things like variable names, or function names unless they are really confusing or misle…

I can recognize some of the traits from the article in myself and I can guarantee you that I (and, I suspect OP as well) would be quick to claim that my comments are "merely factual" and that I am great at differentiating personal opinion from bad form as well.

I don't know you, so you might be 100% right but if the article makes you feel slightly defensive, perhaps it's a good reason to do some introspection.

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#87

Post by redleggedfrog »

finnthehuman wrote: post #28

This 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…

I wish I had 100 up votes for this quote: "Disconnecting ego from the work was the first big lesson I had when I started working in software."

Until you can do that, you'll always be a lesser software developer. You'll concentrate on maintaining your ego instead of developing the best software for the problem at hand. In a way that's the gist of the article.

It's interesting, but at the company I've worked at, where we've had dozens of senior developers come and go, we've never had this problem. Our approach to code reviews is purely educational. "Here's how we do it so we have the least amount of trouble understanding each others code." Everyone seems to be good with that, and egos get left at the front stoop. I've learned lots, I've taught lots, and I've never felt better than anyone or worse than anyone. It's all about the learning.

And let me tell you, when you hire some junior dev, and he gets these code reviews, and 3 years later he's a senior dev and anchoring a project, it's a pretty good feeling. I think better than any feeling you can get from lording knowledge over others.

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#89

Post by coleifer »

finnthehuman wrote: post #28

This 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…

Yeah I had to learn this lesson, and I think I will continue to find my ego cropping up in strange places, and again practice letting go.

My ego drove me to work extra hard to try and impress others. I would become petulant if I didn't get my way. I look back on the first few years of my career with so much cringe!

Re: I ruin developers’ lives with my code reviews and I'm sorry

#90

Post by newnewpdro »

lainga wrote: post #71
iheartpotatoes wrote: post #8

This is incredibly honest. Maybe it's just me, but it 100% resonates with me. I find myself doing the exact same thing: as soon as I feel myself mounting up on my high-horse I have to talk myself down from being an asshat. I've gotten better at it because I'm now responsible for people's careers, and my pettiness is no reason to make someone's life suck because they are still learning -OR- because they think differen…

Oh lord, the stickers. I felt an interview with a local startup turn south when I pulled my Thinkpad out and was asked "where are the stickers?".

You do want to express yourself, don't you?

(Sarcasm, Office Space reference, I'm with you on the stickers.)

Post reply on HN