The Balanced Engineer • Issue #29
Master GitHub staff engineer's code review methods, explore how 'Women in Tech' falls short, and understand how adding value for shareholders can boost your purpose as we learn from Sarah Vessels, Salma Alam-Naylor, and Sean Goedecke.
The Balanced Engineer Newsletter
Week of July 21, 2025 • Issue # 29
🔧 Technical Excellence
Building skills that last beyond any framework
How to review code effectively: A GitHub staff engineer's philosophy by Sarah Vessels (The GitHub Blog)
Summary: This article by Sarah Vessels, a staff engineer and expert code reviewer at GitHub, is a must-read if you want to get better at reviewing code. She explains how code review is one of the most important aspects of her job, describes what a code review is, and provides several tips to do this process well. It's packed with knowledge and is an excellent read whether you are new to code reviews or have been doing them for decades.
Why this resonates: Not only are Sarah's tips incredibly useful, I have had the benefit of learning from Sarah's code review process at GitHub, and she truly is an expert. She taught me to think about reviews as one of the most critical parts of my job. If my options are to continue working on my own work in progress or helping a teammate get something shipped that's nearly done, I should always be choosing to get the nearly finished thing fully finished.
Some of my favorite code review tips are included in this article, such as to review your own pull request before asking others to do so, and how to customize your GitHub notifications to make reviews easier to find.
Tags: Code Review
🚀 Career & Growth
Intentional choices for long-term success
Why Woman in Tech isn't enough by Salma Alam-Naylor (Source)
Summary: Salma describes her experience with "non-men" spaces, colloquially termed "Women in Tech" spaces, throughout her career, and the problems that these present. Women in Tech advocacy groups often work okay for the earliest part of the funnel: getting women into tech roles. But when it comes to thriving and staying in tech roles they tend to be less helpful. And things like "Women in Tech" specific awards may actually be doing more harm than good, since women should also be winning the regular awards, too!
Why this resonates: This articles resonated with me quite a lot because I have felt very similarly with my own experience as a woman in tech. While I found it pretty helpful when I was just getting into tech to have a community of other folks to turn to, sequestering off the spaces where women can congregate at a tech company also makes it seem like it's their problem that there aren't enough women getting into and staying in the field. Which is not the case!
I don't know what the answer is here, and many of the groups that are around and are geared towards supporting non-men in tech are doing some very good work. But there is definitely an issue with women staying in technical roles long-term that needs to be addressed.
Tags: Women in tech
🎯 Impact & Purpose
Making work meaningful
How to become passionate about delivering shareholder value by Sean Goedecke (Sean's blog)
Summary: Staff software engineer and engineering blogger Sean Goedecke argues that engineers should care about delivering shareholder value—but not the short-term, layoff-driven kind. He means the sustainable value that comes from building products people actually want to pay for. His point is that when engineers understand how their work connects to business outcomes, they become happier and more effective. Good software isn't good in isolation; it needs to solve real problems for real people. By aligning with what the company cares about, engineers can make better decisions and feel more connected to their work.
Why this resonates: This article challenges the idea that caring about business outcomes means "selling out." I've watched too many talented engineers burn out because they felt disconnected from the impact of their work. When you're just cranking out tickets without understanding the bigger picture, it's easy to lose motivation.
What I love about Sean's perspective is that he reframes business alignment as a more interesting technical challenge. Understanding customers, markets, and real-world constraints is actually harder than optimizing code in isolation. Plus, when your values align with your company's goals, work feels more meaningful and sustainable. You're not just writing code—you're solving problems that matter to people and building something that can last.
Tags: Impact
🎯 Try This
One small thing to practice this week
Up your pull request game
Put some extra effort into building your next pull request. Review it before sending it out. Make sure the title and description are accurate. And follow Sarah Vessels' tips to craft a pull request that is a joy to review.
What I've Been Building
A quick look at what I've been working on this week
- Overcommitted: Ep. 16 | Understanding Software Availability with Ross Brodbeck - The crew met with Ross Brodbeck to learn about how to build an availability program at GitHub's scale.
- Illustration:
- Overcommitted Book Club: Check out the insights from participant's read of the second chapter of Looks Good To Me!
Have comments or questions about this newsletter? Or just want to be internet friends? Send me an email at brittany@balancedengineer.com or reach out on Bluesky or LinkedIn.