The better you are (or think you are) the more difficult this is. When I start at a new job I never criticize the code because you don't yet know who wrote it. If teammates grumble about the code base I pick parts to praise. This is counter-intuitive because foreign code and practices are almost never appealing. It is far more important to judge the team culture and fit in than demonstrate your technical ability immediately.
Unfortunately the author does not seem to have learned his lesson as most of the article is about what he did 'right'.
When I interview candidates I attempt to engage them in technical argument where I purposely make some questionable statements. How do they attempt to correct you? Do they leave the door open for their opinion to be incorrect. You can learn a lot about what someone will be like to work with just using this simple technique.