How to Review Salesforce Code Like a Senior Developer

Most Salesforce developers learn how to write code. Very few learn how to review code properly.
But this is where senior developers stand apart. Senior developers are not just good at writing Apex or LWC.
They are good at understanding, questioning, and improving code written by others.

A good code review helps:

Catch issues before production
Improve performance and security
Reduce future maintenance
Help the whole team grow

Let’s understand how senior Salesforce developers review code.

1. Start With the Purpose, Not the Code

Before reading a single line, a senior developer asks:

What problem is this code solving?
Is Apex really required here?
Can this be handled with Flow, Validation Rules, or configuration?

Many Salesforce orgs become complex because:

Code is written where configuration was enough
Logic is duplicated unnecessarily

A senior mindset is simple:
If the requirement can be solved without code, avoid writing code.

2. Governor Limits Are Always Top Priority

Salesforce has strict limits, and seniors never ignore them.

They immediately check for:

SOQL queries inside loops
DML operations inside loops
Too many queries in a single transaction
Code that cannot handle bulk records

Senior developers always ask:
Will this code work for 200 records, not just one?

If the answer is no, the code is not ready.

3. Readability Is More Important Than Being Clever

Senior developers prefer clear code over smart-looking code.

They review:

Variable names
Method names
Overall structure

If someone else cannot understand the code quickly, it becomes hard to maintain.

Readable code is easier to debug, test, and extend.

4. Remove Hard-Coded Values

Hard-coding creates problems during deployment and future changes.

Senior developers look for:

Hard-coded record type IDs
Hard-coded user or profile names
Hard-coded picklist values
Hard-coded org-specific logic

Instead, they prefer:

Custom Metadata
Custom Settings
Custom Labels
Dynamic describe methods

A simple question they ask:
What will break when this code moves to another org?

5. Proper Error Handling Is Mandatory

Senior developers assume failures will happen.

They check:

Is try-catch used properly?
Are error messages meaningful?
Are exceptions logged or handled?

Ignoring errors or silently catching exceptions is a serious issue.

Good error handling improves stability and supportability.

6. Security Is Part of Every Review

Senior developers always review security.

They check:

Use of with sharing or without sharing
Object-level access
Field-level security
Data exposure in LWC or APIs

Especially in:

Apex controllers for LWC
Integration endpoints
Experience Cloud implementations

If a user should not see data, the code must enforce it.

7. Think About Future Performance

Senior developers do not just think about today’s data.

They ask:

What happens when data grows?
Will this logic scale?
Is this efficient in the long run?

They watch for:

Nested loops
Repeated database calls
Complex logic inside triggers

Code that works today can cause performance issues later.

8. Test Classes Matter as Much as Production Code

Senior developers do not focus only on test coverage percentage.

They review:

Quality of test data
Positive and negative scenarios
Edge cases
Use of seeAllData=false

A good test class explains what the code is supposed to do.

9. Integration Code Needs Extra Care

When reviewing integrations, seniors check:

Timeout handling
Response validation
Error scenarios
Secure credential usage using Named Credentials

External systems are never fully reliable, and the code must handle failures gracefully.

10. Review the Code, Not the Developer

Senior developers understand that code reviews are about improving solutions, not judging people.

They give feedback like:

This can be bulkified
This logic may fail in async execution
This can be simplified

They avoid personal comments and focus only on improvement.

Final Thoughts

You become a senior Salesforce developer not because of years of experience, but because of how you think.

If your code reviews focus on:

Purpose
Scalability
Security
Readability
Maintainability

You are already thinking like a senior developer.