Reading Code Is a Skill You Can Practice
We spend far more time reading code than writing it, yet almost all our practice goes into writing. Here is how to get deliberately better at the harder half.
Ask an engineer how they improve and they will talk about writing more code, building side projects, learning a new language. Almost nobody says they practice reading. Yet on any real team, reading is the job. You read to review, to debug, to understand what you are about to change.
Start with the shape before the details
When you open an unfamiliar file, resist the urge to read top to bottom. Skim for structure first. What are the main exports? Where does data come in and where does it go out? A quick map of the shape makes the details land somewhere instead of piling up.
Follow one path all the way through
Pick a single realistic scenario and trace it end to end. One request, one click, one input. Following a concrete path teaches you more than reading every branch, because it shows you what actually happens rather than everything that could.
You do not understand a system until you can predict what it will do with an input you have never seen.
Read code you admire on purpose
Set aside time to read a well-built library the way you would study good writing. Notice how it names things, where it draws boundaries, what it chose not to do. You will absorb patterns you can reach for later without having to reinvent them under pressure.
Reading is not the passive part of engineering. It is where most of the understanding actually happens. Give it the same deliberate practice you give everything else, and the writing gets easier too.