Yes and no. I don't think the basics are subjective. A lot of the code which needs to be written basically is framework glue or some CRUD app or something else that doesn't need to be computationally sophisticated or elaborate.
If a developer working on that sort of task A) matches the coding conventions of the underlying framework and B) employs basic use of docblocks to describe things like function signatures, they're 90% of the way to decent, understandable code that someone else can pick up and work with.
It's amazing, though, how many developers will not do those two things unless you drive home that they're mandatory.
They are pretty objective guidelines that I use to "grade" code in my head and it's pretty rare that anyone who follows them produces code that isn't at least a B, and that other people are able to pick up and extend later on without too much trouble.
If a developer working on that sort of task A) matches the coding conventions of the underlying framework and B) employs basic use of docblocks to describe things like function signatures, they're 90% of the way to decent, understandable code that someone else can pick up and work with.
It's amazing, though, how many developers will not do those two things unless you drive home that they're mandatory.
They are pretty objective guidelines that I use to "grade" code in my head and it's pretty rare that anyone who follows them produces code that isn't at least a B, and that other people are able to pick up and extend later on without too much trouble.