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I completed my coding part in our project and I would like to have a code review with my overseas project manager (who is also involved in code development). But I'm a little scared of asking him because I am a fresher.

I think that a code review could help for two reasons:

  1. A senior programmer might catch errors.
  2. The exercise will serve as a mentoring/learning experience and help me grow.

But on the other hand:

  1. I don't want the project manager to think that I lack confidence in my code.
  2. And I don't want the project manager to lose confidence in me. In the future, I want more interesting, engaging work that will help me grow.

While my specific situation applies to programming, I'm wondering more generally:

  • Should I ask my project manager to review my work?
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  • I've flagged this for migration to programmers given how specific it is to coding.
    – enderland
    May 24, 2013 at 14:40
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    @enderland I don't see what's specific to coding here, to me this reads more like a question on how to approach one's manager (It's a "people problem", not a coding problem). user1671639 isn't asking if code reviews are a good practice, they already know it is. And in case I'm reading this wrong and it's indeed a coding problem, we already have a very good duplicate: Is code reviewing good practice?.
    – yannis
    May 24, 2013 at 15:20
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    Fully agreed with @Yannis on this one. "Should my boss check my work?" is a universal question that has value in almost any type of job you will ever have.
    – jmac
    May 26, 2013 at 23:20

3 Answers 3

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Asking a senior developer (or even just another developer) to review your code is a good thing - most companies have a formalised process for this.

Asking a project manager seems odd especially if they don't do any day to day development.

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  • My project manager also involved in code development.
    – Gotcha
    May 24, 2013 at 10:17
  • Then in this particular instance, don't think of him as your project manager, think of him as wearing the developer hat and he's just another developer.
    – Michael
    May 24, 2013 at 11:00
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Focus on what is good for your company, and you'll get pretty far. If getting a code review is right, ask for it.

Just remember that your view of the situation may be skewed because it can be hard to compare "getting a review" against "not getting a review" because "not getting a review" actually means that you'll free up resources in your organization to do something else that you can't estimate the value of.

But anyway, if your peer seems to have time and you believe it adds value, go ahead. Asking for a review can just as well be a sign of confidence - not lack thereof.

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The project manager is assigned to get the promised deliverable on time. A good project manager will also ensure the deliverable is of the best quality possible without further delaying the project and without asking the team members to put in more resources than the project plan! Since your project manager wears the 'Developer's hat' too, and I am guessing (in your company) He (the project manager) has a long experience being a developer then rose up to the rank/position of the project manager, so he is an experienced developer as well. If that's how he rose up to the rank in your company and thats how your company interprets 'project manager' too then you be fine running your code through him. It doesn't suggest that you lack confidence in your code, rather suggests that you don't hesitate to ask questions even on your own work in pursuit of a higher quality deliverable. Also, research about the logic blocks you are coding and see what are other practices over the internet. During the code review, suggest those different practices to your 'project manager' to show that you are well aware of how else it could be done, just didn't know what would best suit your organization in the longer run. This will suggest that you have a wide perspective and can think out of the box to find the best route to the solution. A good skill for a programmer.

But usually (by PMI conventions) a project manager is a temporary position that a fellow takes up for the term of the project and he is given the hat to manage the project, not necessarily to make sure that the deliverable are of the utmost quality. There are other people to take care of that, even peers of the developers.

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