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Disclaimer, I'm the CTO @ PullRequest. One thing to note about our service is that we are not trying to replace your code review process if it is already worki

Disclaimer, I'm the CTO @ PullRequest. One thing to note about our service is that we are not trying to replace your code review process if it is already working well and we strongly agree that knowledge transfer is a very important part of code review. ( We actually have code review metrics as well that help encourage and reward your internal code review process. ) However what we do believe and see on a daily basis is degree that we help supplement the process and help catch many issues as well as inject a unique perspective. Our reviewers are all highly qualified, many are maintainers of popular open source projects or work at top tech companies. Our reviewers also gain context over time similar to a new senior engineer on your team. Reviewers also can share notes with each other to build up a corpus of information for your project over time.

Remed 5y ago
I wanted to join as a reviewer, but you don't accept reviewers from outside the US. Is this something what you are working on and has a chance to change in the foreseeable future? I work for a public US tech company but I'm located in Europe.
winterplace 5y ago
Hi Tyler. Is there a reason why PullRequest Reviewers from Canada are also included as an allowed country? Because that country has good rule of law?
gwbas1c 5y ago
For the past year, I've been working for a company where there are a lot of extreme novice mistakes in the codebase. Even though they reviewed their code, a novice developer reviewing another novice developer aren't going to catch things that are obvious to a developer with 5+ years experience. IMO: Target shops where they just don't have the expertise on-hand to do thorough code reviews. Don't waste time trying to convince a team full of experts with deep domain knowledge that they need you. (They probably don't.) We also have a "problem" where there are some components that are a different language than what most of us are experts in, so they end up being developed by a solo developer. When we need to jump in, as we learn the codebase, we also see novice mistakes that are very hard to fix, because we just don't have many years of experience in that language / platform. Thus, IMO, on your website, list out situations where shops will clearly identify a need for your service. (Team full of novices, solo developers, team members quit.) Don't go trying to convince "everyone" that they need you.
dnautics 5y ago
I wonder if, instead of just incremental code reviews, there would also be a way to get a 3rd party review our huge codebase and flag issues (architectural, real legibility -- not just "CC measures") to be dealt with. Then you could keep track of them and burn them down as part of "killing technical debt" goals.
- avip 5y ago
  I'd pay $$ just to have someone reviewing our Raman bowel of a codebase and documenting it.
  - all2 5y ago
    > and documenting it Sounds like you need two or three people dedicated to the task. Documentation is a whole profession by itself. Well, good documentation.
    - nimchimpsky 5y ago
- nathasm 5y ago
  Yes! I am a reviewer for PullRequest and since I've been doing reviews with them I've been involved in at least one major review where I was given the opportunity to review the entire codebase. From there I was asked to give comments, suggestions, design ideas, and general feedback on a number of different criteria. I'm just a reviewer and can only comment on what I've experienced. But I can say that what you're asking has definitely been done.
thewebcount 5y ago
> Our reviewers are all highly qualified, many are maintainers of popular open source projects or work at top tech companies. Isn’t that potentially a huge problem? What if your reviewers work for my company’s competitors? I don’t want them seeing our code base. Do you have any methods to ensure that doesn’t happen?
- tyler_mann 5y ago
  Conflict of interest is something we take seriously and have processes in place to ensure this doesn't occur. All reviewers aren't able to review or see the reviews from all customers, we have tools in place to facilitate the best matches for both compliance as well as quality and familiarity.
- wanderingmind 5y ago
  Are you saying your employees will never leave to work for your competitors? I have not worked with this company but most of them needs an employee to sign a strong NDA that protects IP. That must be sufficient in most cases to protect your IP.

Remed 5y ago

I wanted to join as a reviewer, but you don't accept reviewers from outside the US. Is this something what you are working on and has a chance to change in the foreseeable future? I work for a public US tech company but I'm located in Europe.

winterplace 5y ago

Hi Tyler. Is there a reason why PullRequest Reviewers from Canada are also included as an allowed country? Because that country has good rule of law?

gwbas1c 5y ago

For the past year, I've been working for a company where there are a lot of extreme novice mistakes in the codebase. Even though they reviewed their code, a novice developer reviewing another novice developer aren't going to catch things that are obvious to a developer with 5+ years experience. IMO: Target shops where they just don't have the expertise on-hand to do thorough code reviews. Don't waste time trying to convince a team full of experts with deep domain knowledge that they need you. (They probably don't.) We also have a "problem" where there are some components that are a different language than what most of us are experts in, so they end up being developed by a solo developer. When we need to jump in, as we learn the codebase, we also see novice mistakes that are very hard to fix, because we just don't have many years of experience in that language / platform. Thus, IMO, on your website, list out situations where shops will clearly identify a need for your service. (Team full of novices, solo developers, team members quit.) Don't go trying to convince "everyone" that they need you.

dnautics 5y ago

I wonder if, instead of just incremental code reviews, there would also be a way to get a 3rd party review our huge codebase and flag issues (architectural, real legibility -- not just "CC measures") to be dealt with. Then you could keep track of them and burn them down as part of "killing technical debt" goals.

avip 5y ago
I'd pay $$ just to have someone reviewing our Raman bowel of a codebase and documenting it.
- all2 5y ago
  > and documenting it Sounds like you need two or three people dedicated to the task. Documentation is a whole profession by itself. Well, good documentation.
  - nimchimpsky 5y ago
nathasm 5y ago
Yes! I am a reviewer for PullRequest and since I've been doing reviews with them I've been involved in at least one major review where I was given the opportunity to review the entire codebase. From there I was asked to give comments, suggestions, design ideas, and general feedback on a number of different criteria. I'm just a reviewer and can only comment on what I've experienced. But I can say that what you're asking has definitely been done.

thewebcount 5y ago

> Our reviewers are all highly qualified, many are maintainers of popular open source projects or work at top tech companies. Isn’t that potentially a huge problem? What if your reviewers work for my company’s competitors? I don’t want them seeing our code base. Do you have any methods to ensure that doesn’t happen?

tyler_mann 5y ago
Conflict of interest is something we take seriously and have processes in place to ensure this doesn't occur. All reviewers aren't able to review or see the reviews from all customers, we have tools in place to facilitate the best matches for both compliance as well as quality and familiarity.
wanderingmind 5y ago
Are you saying your employees will never leave to work for your competitors? I have not worked with this company but most of them needs an employee to sign a strong NDA that protects IP. That must be sufficient in most cases to protect your IP.