diff --git a/.golangci.yml b/.golangci.yml
index 2dd22ffc7..9884ab3e7 100644
--- a/.golangci.yml
+++ b/.golangci.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ linters:
     - deadcode
     - misspell
     - nolintlint
+    - gocritic
 
 issues:
   exclude-use-default: false
diff --git a/cmd/virtual-kubelet/internal/provider/mock/mock.go b/cmd/virtual-kubelet/internal/provider/mock/mock.go
index 02e5b71a7..7696588da 100644
--- a/cmd/virtual-kubelet/internal/provider/mock/mock.go
+++ b/cmd/virtual-kubelet/internal/provider/mock/mock.go
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ type MockProvider struct {
 }
 
 // MockConfig contains a mock virtual-kubelet's configurable parameters.
-type MockConfig struct { //nolint:golint
+type MockConfig struct {
 	CPU    string `json:"cpu,omitempty"`
 	Memory string `json:"memory,omitempty"`
 	Pods   string `json:"pods,omitempty"`
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ type MockConfig struct { //nolint:golint
 
 // NewMockProviderMockConfig creates a new MockV0Provider. Mock legacy provider does not implement the new asynchronous podnotifier interface
 func NewMockProviderMockConfig(config MockConfig, nodeName, operatingSystem string, internalIP string, daemonEndpointPort int32) (*MockProvider, error) {
-	//set defaults
+	// set defaults
 	if config.CPU == "" {
 		config.CPU = defaultCPUCapacity
 	}
diff --git a/node/api/logs_test.go b/node/api/logs_test.go
index 99f2ab7cf..f2c9d9f8a 100644
--- a/node/api/logs_test.go
+++ b/node/api/logs_test.go
@@ -10,15 +10,15 @@ import (
 	is "gotest.tools/assert/cmp"
 )
 
-//func parseLogOptions(q url.Values) (opts ContainerLogOpts, err error)
+// func parseLogOptions(q url.Values) (opts ContainerLogOpts, err error)
 func TestParseLogOptions(t *testing.T) {
-	//tailLines
-	//follow
-	//limitBytes
-	//previous
-	//sinceSeconds
-	//sinceTime
-	//timestamps
+	// tailLines
+	// follow
+	// limitBytes
+	// previous
+	// sinceSeconds
+	// sinceTime
+	// timestamps
 	sinceTime, _ := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, "2020-03-20T21:07:34Z")
 	fmt.Printf("%+v\n", sinceTime)
 	testCases := []struct {
diff --git a/node/node.go b/node/node.go
index e371d02d6..a5db919f2 100644
--- a/node/node.go
+++ b/node/node.go
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ const (
 //
 // Note: Implementers can choose to manage a node themselves, in which case
 // it is not needed to provide an implementation for this interface.
-type NodeProvider interface { //nolint:golint
+type NodeProvider interface {
 	// Ping checks if the node is still active.
 	// This is intended to be lightweight as it will be called periodically as a
 	// heartbeat to keep the node marked as ready in Kubernetes.
diff --git a/node/nodeutil/client.go b/node/nodeutil/client.go
index 70d746dfe..da3d0ed7a 100644
--- a/node/nodeutil/client.go
+++ b/node/nodeutil/client.go
@@ -24,17 +24,7 @@ func ClientsetFromEnv(kubeConfigPath string) (*kubernetes.Clientset, error) {
 	)
 
 	if kubeConfigPath != "" {
-		_, err = os.Stat(kubeConfigPath)
-		if err == nil {
-			config, err = clientcmd.NewNonInteractiveDeferredLoadingClientConfig(
-				&clientcmd.ClientConfigLoadingRules{ExplicitPath: kubeConfigPath},
-				&clientcmd.ConfigOverrides{},
-			).ClientConfig()
-		} else if os.IsNotExist(err) {
-			config, err = rest.InClusterConfig()
-		} else {
-			return nil, err
-		}
+		config, err = clientsetFromEnvKubeConfigPath(kubeConfigPath)
 	} else {
 		config, err = rest.InClusterConfig()
 	}
@@ -46,6 +36,20 @@ func ClientsetFromEnv(kubeConfigPath string) (*kubernetes.Clientset, error) {
 	return kubernetes.NewForConfig(config)
 }
 
+func clientsetFromEnvKubeConfigPath(kubeConfigPath string) (*rest.Config, error) {
+	_, err := os.Stat(kubeConfigPath)
+	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		return rest.InClusterConfig()
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return clientcmd.NewNonInteractiveDeferredLoadingClientConfig(
+		&clientcmd.ClientConfigLoadingRules{ExplicitPath: kubeConfigPath},
+		&clientcmd.ConfigOverrides{},
+	).ClientConfig()
+}
+
 // PodInformerFilter is a filter that you should use when creating a pod informer for use with the pod controller.
 func PodInformerFilter(node string) kubeinformers.SharedInformerOption {
 	return kubeinformers.WithTweakListOptions(func(options *metav1.ListOptions) {
diff --git a/node/podcontroller.go b/node/podcontroller.go
index 79890eb75..490b4fbf6 100644
--- a/node/podcontroller.go
+++ b/node/podcontroller.go
@@ -303,10 +303,9 @@ func (pc *PodController) Run(ctx context.Context, podSyncWorkers int) (retErr er
 			// At this point we know that something in .metadata or .spec has changed, so we must proceed to sync the pod.
 			if key, err := cache.MetaNamespaceKeyFunc(newPod); err != nil {
 				log.G(ctx).Error(err)
-			} else {
-				if podShouldEnqueue(oldPod, newPod) {
-					pc.k8sQ.AddRateLimited(key)
-				}
+			} else if podShouldEnqueue(oldPod, newPod) {
+				pc.k8sQ.AddRateLimited(key)
+
 			}
 		},
 		DeleteFunc: func(pod interface{}) {
diff --git a/trace/opencensus/opencensus.go b/trace/opencensus/opencensus.go
index 6b2df140a..4145b5233 100644
--- a/trace/opencensus/opencensus.go
+++ b/trace/opencensus/opencensus.go
@@ -213,9 +213,9 @@ func (l *logger) WithError(err error) log.Logger {
 
 	var a []octrace.Attribute
 	if l.s.IsRecordingEvents() {
-		a = make([]octrace.Attribute, len(l.a), len(l.a)+1)
+		a = make([]octrace.Attribute, len(l.a)+1)
 		copy(a, l.a)
-		a = append(l.a, makeAttribute("err", err))
+		a[len(a)-1] = makeAttribute("err", err)
 	}
 
 	return &logger{s: l.s, l: log, a: a}
@@ -227,9 +227,9 @@ func (l *logger) WithField(k string, value interface{}) log.Logger {
 	var a []octrace.Attribute
 
 	if l.s.IsRecordingEvents() {
-		a = make([]octrace.Attribute, len(l.a), len(l.a)+1)
+		a = make([]octrace.Attribute, len(l.a)+1)
 		copy(a, l.a)
-		a = append(a, makeAttribute(k, value))
+		a[len(a)-1] = makeAttribute(k, value)
 	}
 
 	return &logger{s: l.s, a: a, l: log}