CS career - frustrating PR review [closed]

Question

Edit: I don't understand why I'm being downvoted, all I am doing is asking for advice.

I have been a developer for nearly 10 years, though it's the first time I am in a "tech" company. My previous companies were companies like finance that had a tech department where tech is a cost center, though it doesn't mean the tech standards were any lower, in fact they were even more rigorous than the current company. So I'm not sure if this is normal or not.

Here is the problem. I raise a PR, my coworkers leaves some comments. I make changes based on the comments. Then coworker leaves more comments, NOT based my new changes but based on the code that didn't change. In other words, they leave comments they could've left the first time, but didn't for whatever reason.

One time after my PR was already merged (with their approval), they mention on my other PR that the merged work should be redone.

I am very frustrated and stressed out about this constant back and forth. It took max 2 days to merge a PR at my former companies. Now it takes a week or more, and it makes it look like I'm not getting any work done.

My coworkers question even small things like I made a separate file to keep similar utility functions, which would've been a best practice at my former teams. What makes it even harder is this team has NO best practice document and claims everything is "common sense". Common sense I'm sure varies from person to person in an opinionated field like software development, that's why documents and team rules exist. But they don't have one and it's hard for me to guess what they want.

I see even longer reviews (90+ comments) happening to other people for a relatively simple feature but it doesn't seem to stress them out for some reason, and no one else is complaining about the process.

So my question is, is this how code review usually happens in a big "tech" company (not FAANG)?

And how do I deal with it?

Would it be wise to bring up my frustrations with the manager, or confront coworkers directly?

The manager is very hands off, it seems he doesn't like to impose any hard rules. I want to bring it up but don't know how to do it without rocking the boat, because I am the newest person on the team.

One solution might be to discuss every thing with coworkers before I write any code, but I fear they will say I can't work independently. I just want the PR review to go smoother instead of it seeming like I can't code at all due to 20+ comments.

P.S. Changing teams/jobs is not an option right now due to visa reasons.

Answer 1

This sounds like there's a pretty big communication problem lurking underneath. PRs should be a straightforward thing, either they're good (maybe with a slight adjustment) or they are not acceptable, in which case there should be a constructive face-to-face discussion about the perceived problems, not a fierce game of comment racquets.

If your colleagues prefer to obstruct integration of your PRs instead of talking to you, you should talk to your manager. This behavior is leading to reduced productivity and increasing team tension, which is something they should not ignore.

It is possible that you're part of the problem (communication always involves 2 or more parties), and you should be open to adjust your own behavior, too, not just look at other's "mis"behavior. A good manager might have some insight and may be able to give feedback about the way you're coming across to others. Even if you don't have an insightful manager, it might be a good idea to start talking to the colleagues with whom you're supposed to work in a team.

Answer 2

This is a management problem

You should expect that code review is done against a set of standards. Reviews done against the standard of "it's common sense" means there isn't a standard. So the company has a process based on peers setting standards based on how they feel about the code, and the only way to learn what these feeling-based standards are is by getting review comments. Every time the review is made, different things can be reviewed since there really isn't a standard.

My opinion is you should talk to your manager about the development processes at the company. I don't see how anyone could think what you're describing is a good idea, but maybe they either just don't know how to fix it, or the organizational inertia is too large to allow change. Regardless, your manager can talk you through how to navigate the environment. You can then choose whether this works for you or if you should seek other organizations for employment.