Describe experience performing code reviews
Company: Cloudflare
Role: Software Engineer
Category: Behavioral & Leadership
Difficulty: easy
Interview Round: HR Screen
During the interview, you are asked:
> Have you ever done any code reviews?
If yes, the interviewer may follow up with questions about **how** you review code. How should you answer to demonstrate that you understand and value good code review practices?
Quick Answer: This question evaluates a candidate's experience with code review processes, attention to code quality and standards, and interpersonal skills for giving and receiving feedback.
Solution
The interviewer wants to see that you can both **give and receive** feedback effectively and that you care about **code quality and team collaboration**.
### If you **have** done code reviews
1. **Confirm and give context**
- Mention the size/type of team and codebase (e.g., microservices, monolith, frontend, backend).
2. **Explain your review goals**
Show that you look beyond style issues:
- **Correctness**: Does it do what it claims? Any edge cases?
- **Readability & maintainability**: Clear naming, structure, comments where needed.
- **Security & reliability**: Input validation, error handling, resource leaks, concurrency issues.
- **Performance**: When relevant (hot paths, algorithms, data structures).
- **Consistency**: With existing patterns and style guides.
3. **Describe your review process**
- How you approach a change: first high-level (design/architecture), then details (logic, tests).
- How you check tests: existing coverage and new tests for new behavior.
- How you use tools (linters, static analyzers, CI results).
4. **Show collaboration and communication style**
- How you phrase feedback (respectful, constructive, specific).
- How you handle disagreements (focus on data, code quality, and team conventions).
- Encouraging good practices (small PRs, clear descriptions, documentation).
**Example outline:**
> "Yes, I regularly review code on my current team. In reviews, I focus first on correctness and design—does the change fit the existing architecture and handle edge cases? Then I look at readability and maintainability: clear naming, modularization, and whether there’s duplication we can reduce. I also check tests to ensure new behavior is covered. In comments, I try to be specific and respectful, explaining the reasoning behind suggestions and being open to discussion. If there’s a disagreement, I refer to team conventions or bring in data, and I’m happy to change my mind when others have better arguments."
### If you have **limited** review experience
You can still:
- Mention any informal reviews (pair programming, reviewing classmates’ code, open-source contributions).
- Describe how you would approach reviews, using the goals and process above.
- Emphasize that you’re eager to participate more in reviews as you grow.