Throughout the first year of my first job, a senior developer on my team relentlessly shredded my code reviews. Dozens of comments, each one explaining in detail why my code was bug-prone, inefficient, or just incorrect. The comments were never mean-spirited, and almost always right.
It was an incredible gift I wouldn’t understand until years later.
It took a lot of time to carefully review that code and provide such a massive amount of constructive feedback. It took a lot of patience to explain, repeatedly, the why behind some of the more subtle suggested changes. Even more so when the review comments extended into meetings, cubicle visits, emails, and so on.
It is hard to overstate the impact that year had on my career and ability as a programmer, both technically and non-technically.
Don’t miss an opportunity to receive honest feedback, always doing so with humility.
And down the road, don’t forget to be the patient senior developer for someone else.