How to review code effectively: A GitHub staff engineer’s philosophy

As a staff engineer at GitHub, the author emphasizes the critical role of code review in software development, having reviewed over 7,000 pull requests over eight years. Code reviews are seen as essential for improving code quality, facilitating knowledge exchange, and enhancing career prospects. The author shares strategies for efficient code reviews, such as using GitHub notifications, Slack channels, and automation tools like CODEOWNERS files to manage review requests. Good code reviews are clear, precise, and constructive, while poor reviews lack clarity and actionable feedback. The author advises reviewing one's own code before submission and encourages post-merge reviews to maintain a high code quality standard. Emphasizing the importance of communication and feedback, the article highlights the benefits of code reviews in preventing bugs and incidents, even in an era of AI-generated code.