Feedback is an essential part of the writing process — even when it comes to writing code.
Just as authors and poets leverage critical input to clarify their ideas, software developers rely on the insights gained from peers during code reviews to make their code more readable and consistent.
Thanks to the mentorship and guidance they received from their teams, these two featured software engineers say they have been able to learn additional programming languages, explore exciting new ideas and create better code in less time.
From Cohere Health and Kensho Technologies, these pros connected with Built In Boston to share their tips for everyone from engineering newbies to experts hoping to take their code-writing skills to the next level.
Cohere Health offers intelligent prior authorization solutions that align physicians and patients with evidence-based care plans.
How have your code-writing skills improved since joining Cohere Health?
My code-writing skills have improved in every aspect since joining Cohere Health. I’ve learned to write code in multiple languages, including Javascript, Java and Python, which has broadened my knowledge on the versatility and utility of each. The skills from one language often translate to others as well, so having the opportunity to write code in many different languages makes learning a new one much easier.
The mentorship and constructive feedback offered at Cohere has improved the overall quality of my code significantly. My approach to coding new logic has fully shifted since I started my job here. The team puts an emphasis on writing code that will scale easily as we grow, forcing developers to ask questions upfront on how their code can be easily used and re-used in any context. This stems from the in-depth code reviews and hands-on pair programming sessions that are a standard at Cohere.
The mentorship and constructive feedback offered at Cohere has improved the overall quality of my code significantly.”
Cohere also gives their developers the opportunity to explore new ideas, giving me plenty of room to ideate and revise. This has allowed me to understand development cycles much better and see how powerful it can be to iterate on project development in a strategic way.
Tell us about a project that you completed thanks to your leveled-up code skills.
Last November, our team built the first iteration of a configuration tool for our platform. We noticed we were building up tech debt in our codebase by coding certain features slightly different based on a few distinct use cases. We saw this as an opportunity to simplify by extracting the slight variations into an overarching configuration data model.
Leading this project was a great exercise for me, as it forced me to identify common threads underneath a wide range of features across our platform. We wanted to use this new tool for an upcoming launch in a couple months, so we knew we would have to iterate on the project in some way to ensure we had it ready for use by launch date.
Completing the first pass at this tool tested my ability to design a scalable data model, one that had to be flexible enough to accommodate for future configuration needs that were unknown at the time of building it. It also tested my ability to define scope of the initial implementation while leaving room to iterate, ensuring we could use this tool at the time of our launch. I felt confident in the task at hand thanks to the skills I learned at Cohere. Our launch was very successful.
For engineers just starting out, how can they best improve their code-writing skills?
For engineers just starting out at Cohere, the best advice I can give is to ask as many questions as possible and keep an open mind. The leadership that we have on our engineering team is incredible. Their guidance has been a vital part of my career development since the start of my time here. Using them as a resource is the best thing you can do, and they are happy to get involved.
Kensho Technologies researches, develops and implements AI and machine learning tools that aid in decision-making.
How have your code-writing skills improved since joining Kensho Technologies?
Before joining Kensho, I wrote code that was viewed and maintained by three people at most, which afforded a more relaxed and arguably inconsistent way of writing code. Now, as part of a larger team, I’ve learned the importance of consistency, readability and testability.
What helped me strengthen these areas were code reviews. They reduce the need to make decisions on every aspect of the code, which speeds up the time from the first commit to merging. They also allow you to incrementally adjust to the standard of the codebase without having to ensure that all of your code is up to standard the first time.
Additionally, continuous integration tools streamline the linting and testing, which after a while become ingrained in your coding style.
Tell us about a project that you completed thanks to your leveled-up code skills.
I worked on a project that upgraded different components of our logging infrastructure. One part of the project involved writing in Scala, and it was the only project in our codebase written in that language. As such, I didn’t have a lot of references of best practices for writing in Scala.
However, all of the general rules still applied: document, format and test. This helped me stay on track without diving too deep into the nuances of the language, and it helped those who reviewed my changes because they were able to follow more easily. If I had utilized all the special features of Scala, which would have brought no real benefit to the project, I would’ve introduced more confusion than what it was worth.
For engineers just starting out, how can they best improve their code-writing skills?
To best improve, the first thing is to accept that, more times than not, there is more than one way to write code that has the same functionality. Being open to modifying your style is beneficial. Moreover, you improve the most when you are receptive to the comments and suggestions that you get from code reviews.
You improve the most when you are receptive to the comments and suggestions that you get from code reviews.”
Exploring your team’s codebase and mimicking the style would not only make continuous integration easier for the code you write, but it also improves your code comprehension, allowing you to better participate in code reviews. Being able to review the code of other developers subsequently improves your own code-writing skills.
Lastly, when in doubt, comment. When not in doubt, comment. It helps you and others understand your code better.
