As A New Hire At A Software Company, Is It Rude To Point Out Inefficient Source Code My Colleagues Wrote?
Posted by China Sourcing CommentatorSep 18
My company has tasked me with writing unit testing code to get familiar with our system, and I have found some O(n^2) code that can be done in linear time. I don’t want to overstep my bounds and make others look bad. What should I do?
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Ultimately the company is paying you to do a service for them, so you probably should take the steps necessary to get better code in. Working with people is a reality though and no one likes to get their toes stepped on, so I would suggest a balance of the 2. Maybe say something like, “I was looking at your code and you gave me an idea…” That way he feels a part of the process but the better code gets implemented.
Messing with someones code is like trying to take a baby cub from momma bear, good luck
Agreed, just explain WHY the current solution is slower. I have found that the vast majority of developers entering the market today have no formal training or concept of algorithm efficiency / design / and techniques with which to test them. He’ll appreciate the knowledge.
if your testing shows slow results, it may be appropriate that you explain to the programmer that your solution is that much faster.. especially during a stress testing scenario.. besides I think the programmer would be happy that you point that out to them ; )
You are there to contribute, but slamming your colleagues isn’t the best contribution. Do it nice, compliment their code, show them the advantage you discovered to improve it, let ‘em know you’re on their team, and always be open to their better knowledge of “their” environment…there may be a good reason they did it the way they did, so keep in mind that the nice approach keeps you from looking like a goofball when it turns out you are wrong. Hey, it happens…