How do you write maintainable and readable code?
This question evaluates how well you understand code quality, long-term collaboration, and good habits such as naming, documentation, and modularization.
In global teams — especially those with active code review processes — it’s important to show that you care about writing code that is clear, consistent, and easy for others to work with.
Answer 1: Practical habits and consistency
English
To write maintainable and readable code, I follow a few core practices. First, I use clear and consistent naming for variables, functions, and files. Good naming can often reduce the need for extra comments.
Second, I break down logic into single-purpose functions, which makes code easier to understand, test, and refactor. I also add comments when the purpose isn’t obvious from the code itself — but I avoid overcommenting.
Finally, I follow the team’s coding conventions and use tools like linters and formatters to ensure consistency. In my experience, consistency is more valuable than cleverness when it comes to long-term maintainability.
Key Expressions
- maintainable code: code that is easy to modify, debug, and extend over time
- readable code: code that is easy for others to understand at a glance
- clear and consistent naming: using meaningful names and applying the same style across the project
- single-purpose functions: functions that do one specific task to keep logic simple and reusable
- coding conventions: shared guidelines or rules for how code should be written and organized
- consistency: using the same patterns and styles across your codebase
Answer 2: Empathy and team-oriented mindset
English
For me, writing maintainable and readable code means writing for the next person who will read or update it — whether that’s a teammate or my future self. I try to write code with empathy for other developers.
That means using descriptive variable names, avoiding overly clever shortcuts, and organizing the project structure so that files and logic are easy to locate. When the business logic isn’t obvious, I include short comments to explain the reasoning behind decisions.
I also treat code reviews as a way to improve. I listen to feedback and believe that clean code comes from continuous improvement, not a one-time effort.
Key Expressions
- write code with empathy: write in a way that is considerate of others who will work with the code
- descriptive variable names: variable names that clearly show what the variable is for
- overly clever shortcuts: tricky code that’s hard to understand or maintain
- project structure: how folders and files are organized in a project
- continuous improvement: the habit of regularly improving your code and practices over time
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