How to Prepare for Code Reviews (Like a Pro)

If you're new to code reviews or feel like they never go quite right, you're not alone.

The truth is, many developers treat code reviews as a final boss instead of what they really are: an opportunity to improve the code and grow as an engineer.

Here’s the mindset shift:
You should prepare for code reviews like you’d prepare for a demo or a job interview. Because when you do, you’ll level up faster and make your teammates’ lives way easier.

Let’s talk about how to do that.

1. Be Your Own First Reviewer

Here’s a common git workflow:

• Write code
• Test code
• Open PR and assign reviewer
• Fix things based on their feedback

Let’s make one simple upgrade:
Open a Draft PR before you assign a reviewer.

On GitHub, that’s easy: just mark it as a draft.
On other platforms, prefix your PR title with WIP:.

Why this works:

• It gives you a visual overview of everything you’ve touched.
• You’ll catch “oops” code you forgot to delete.
• You can add comments for tricky sections before someone else does.

You’re not just pushing code, you’re presenting a solution. Treat it like that.

2. Test Before You Click "Ready for Review"

I can’t count how many times a “tiny change” broke a service I was working on, especially with microservices — one misplaced configuration and boom, the service crashes.

Before your reviewer ever sees your PR:

• Run your tests
• Spin up the service if you need to
• If there’s no CI/CD? Build the Docker image yourself

If it’s slow or annoying, blame your tooling. But do it anyway.
You’ll build confidence and avoid sending your teammate on a bug hunt.

3. Clean Up Linting, Typing & Standards

Most teams enforce basic hygiene via CI — linting, type checks, tests.

Before you mark your PR as ready:

• Run your linter locally (pre-commit is your friend)
• Run mypy or your type checker
• Make sure all those ✅s are green

Typing fixes, especially, can be sneaky. One small change can ripple out and affect several layers of your app. Rerun your tests after typing changes — trust me.

Final Thoughts

Preparing for a code review isn’t about being perfect. It’s about respecting your reviewer’s time and giving them space to focus on what matters — your implementation.

When you show up prepared:

• You get faster approvals
• You earn your team’s trust
• You build confidence in your own code

And when there's a disagreement?
It's about the design, not a bunch of broken tests or missing types.

How Do You Prepare for Code Reviews?

Got your own rituals, tools, or horror stories?
Hit reply or drop a comment. I’d love to hear how you handle it.

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