We’ve all been there: a notification pops up, you glance at the code, it looks “fine enough,” and you hit Approve.
I recently caught myself giving a rushed approval, and it forced me to realize that these “rubber-stamp” reviews aren’t just a personal lapse they are a systemic risk. As AI tools increasingly assist in writing our code, the ability to perform deep, intentional code reviews is becoming the most critical skill in an engineer’s toolkit
We are entering a world where the volume of code being produced is exploding, thanks to LLMs. While AI is great at generating syntax, it often misses the nuance of edge cases, architectural consistency, and long-term maintainability.
This is where you set yourself apart. In the age of AI, the “coder” is common, but the “discerning reviewer” is rare. If you treat reviews as a chore to be cleared, you are essentially outsourcing your team’s quality to an algorithm. Taking the time to truly understand the why behind every line of code is what transforms you from a code-writer into a high-level engineer.
Reviewing code is a competitive advantage
Ultimately, a code review is one of the best ways for a team to grow. It’s where trade-offs are discussed, different approaches are compared, and senior-level thinking is shared.
In a world saturated with AI-generated code, the engineers who take the time to deeply understand, test, and critique code are the ones who will greatly benefit themselves, the team and the product.
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