> It sounds like a good job where the most important part is finding other people’s mistakes.

And reviews are not that. Systems are complex, and having a mental model of complex systems is difficult. Everyone has blind spots. A fresh pair of eyes can often spot what who was coding would not.

> But returning a PR solely because it doesn’t have tests, is effective, but a little performative too.

And this is not what I said. I spoke of suggesting extra tests. A scenario that wasn't covered, for example.