I had my first code review at the new job last week. It’s always a little intimidating the first time around. I’ve spent the first 3 weeks trying to feel out standards, best practices, etc… It was also the first code review in a long while where I was not the one making the critiquing. All in all, it went very well. I was quite happy with the process and the constructive critism given. Most comments were simple styling preferences, the logic of the code was correct.

The first question I was asked during the review was, “What’s the byte size of the object?” I was stumped. I have never had to worry about bytes and bits before. Call me new school, call me ignorant, but in a managed environment one just doesn’t worry about the size of objects created. The first project I’ve worked on is in C++, which I haven’t done in nearly 8 years, and is an unmanaged language (no garbage collection, memory management, etc..). Hence the question about byte size is quite important. I thoroughly enjoyed discussing the nauances of an int versus short when utilizing precious memory space.

When I switched jobs I knew I was getting into a different position than I had been doing for the past couple of years. I changed from being a lead developer to a code jockey again. It was a tough decision for me to make. I enjoy being a leader. I like to design solutions. But I growing tired of working with the same systems day in and day out. I spent 4 years struggling to solve the same problem. I decided to throw in the towel for a new adventure.

I don’t regret my decision to take a new job. I am in a more technically structured company. I am more comfortable than I have been in a long time. Stress has melted away. But it has been an adjustment that is taking some time to grasp.