It is hard, particularly when management has put someone in a position they don't have the training for. In a junior developer that's understandable, but still

It is hard, particularly when management has put someone in a position they don't have the training for. In a junior developer that's understandable, but still painful when you have deadlines. Luckily, most developers are willing to learn and pretty good at seeing the patterns[1] of things done by the team. To me, the biggest thing is don't lie to save feelings. You need to tell the truth or they will feel a whole lot worse later. Loosen yourself up. Don't go into that ridged pose. Talk evenly, and if you can manage it act in a jovial mood as you walk in. For the love of all you hold holy, know what they did code-wise, and take some damn notes before hand. Winging it will be the death of their trust. Teachers you don't trust aren't going to teach you anything. I had a job where I was the C code reviewer, but was not allowed to program in C[2]. One developer, a fairly senior one, wrote some of the worst code I've ever seen. My code review was basically C 101 and it really was a tough chore to keep myself following good body language and words while still indicating the code needed a lot of changes to be acceptable. I really do blame the employer for setting the developer up to fail (no C training, just read a book and wing it). I did it ok, but I really wish I had a mentor of some sort in the room to give me a critique of my critique. 1) I really don't mean design patterns, more like the general pattern of code with that project / workplace. 2) Well, obviously I couldn't write C code since there would be no one to code review mine. Not obvious? Wasn't to me either to tell the truth. I got to spend my days programming in a reporting language and AWK. I only lasted 9 months (my 3 seasons in heck).