Code review etiquette — giving and receiving feedback

Lesson 2 of 3 in Workplace Communication for Tech IEPs · 22 minutes

Code review is the most frequent collaborative activity in Canadian tech. The patterns are specific. This lesson teaches both giving and receiving review, with the language and tone that builds team trust.

What you'll learn

Give code review feedback that's clear and constructive
Receive feedback gracefully, even when defensive
Distinguish must-fix from nice-to-have comments
Use the right tone — professional, direct, kind

From the lesson

Code review is constant in Canadian tech. Every PR (Pull Request) goes through review. Every engineer reviews colleagues' code daily. The quality of code review feedback shapes team culture, code quality, and individual learning. IEPs often arrive with code review experience but need to adapt to Canadian patterns — direct without rude, kind without weak.

1. The role of code review

Functions of code review:

• Catch bugs before production. A second pair of eyes finds issues the author missed. • Enforce standards. Style, structure, naming conventions. • Share knowledge. Reviewers learn the codebase; authors learn from feedback. • Improve design. Surface alternative approaches. • Maintain quality.…