Code reviews are a key process that ensures the long-term health of a codebase and the growth of engineering teams. Over the years, I’ve refined a consistent, structured approach to code reviews that balances pragmatism with quality. Here’s how I approach reviewing code as a senior software engineer and tech lead. 1. Start with Understanding the Problem Before diving into the code, I take a step back to understand what problem the code is trying to solve.

This was recently a topic of discussion I had along with other engineering leads. I reflected back on my own experience because I remember how early in my career, software estimation would cause stress, anxiety, and worry. I knew how to do the work, but the uncertainty tied to this was a challenge. The truth is that software estimation is hard, often imprecise, and sometimes wildly off. And yet, it’s a necessary part of planning.

A lot of people head to programming school–i.e. computer science departments–with the goal of getting the education necessary to become software engineers at Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc. There’s a desire to learn the necessary skills to contribute to software projects. However, there often appears to be a disconnect between what is taught and what is useful in successfully delivering software products on time. Experience is the best teacher for an individual desiring to work in the software field.