A teammate reviews your pull request and leaves several comments you think are wrong or overly nitpicky. How do you respond?

situational · Junior level · general

What the interviewer is really asking

Gauge ability to receive and professionally engage with code review feedback.

What to say

• Lead with curiosity — ask for their reasoning before defending your approach.
• Separate factual correctness (where you can offer data or references) from style preference (where you might defer to team convention).
• Propose a quick sync if there are multiple disagreements rather than a long comment thread.

What to avoid

• Don't respond with 'LGTM, please approve' and ignore the comments.
• Avoid a defensive reply that dismisses their expertise.
• Don't escalate to the manager over minor style disagreements.

Example answers

Strong: For each comment I'd first ask myself if I've missed something. For the ones I genuinely disagree with, I'd reply with my reasoning and ask if there's a specific case I haven't considered. For pure style nitpicks, I'd check our team style guide — if it's silent, I'd defer to the reviewer to unblock the PR. If there are five or more open threads, I'd propose a 15-minute sync instead.

Weak: I'd reply to every comment defending my original approach until they approved.