Reading code is a skill

Junior engineers ask: 'how do I write better code?' Senior engineers ask: 'how do I read code faster?'

Writing is one skill. Reading is another. Most engineering education focuses on the former, but in practice, we spend far more time reading than writing. Every code review, every debugging session, every onboarding to a new codebase — all of these depend on reading comprehension.

To read code effectively: start at the boundaries (APIs, contracts, interfaces) before diving into implementation. Trace a single request from entry to exit to understand the data flow. Read the tests first — they document the intended behaviour more reliably than comments.

I make it a habit to read one unfamiliar codebase per quarter. An open-source library, an internal tool I have not touched, a project in a language I do not use daily. The skill of quickly understanding an unfamiliar system is the highest-leverage investment an engineer can make.