diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 73239c78c3..e451e5e30b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -75,14 +75,11 @@ DOCKER_BUILD ?= $(DOCKER) run --rm $(if $(ISTTY),-it) -u $(shell id -u):$(shell
 all: container hyperfed controller kubefedctl webhook e2e
 
 # Unit tests
-test: vet
+test:
 	go test $(TEST_PKGS)
 
 build: hyperfed controller kubefedctl webhook
 
-vet:
-	go vet $(TEST_PKGS)
-
 lint:
 	golangci-lint run -c .golangci.yml --fix
 
diff --git a/hack/verify-errpkg.sh b/hack/verify-errpkg.sh
index b6078ece90..c86a365849 100755
--- a/hack/verify-errpkg.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-errpkg.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ bad_files=$(find_files | xargs $ERRORPKG) || true
 popd > /dev/null
 
 if [[ -n "${bad_files}" ]]; then
-  echo "Please Switch from fmt.errorf to github/pkg/errors to fix the following files:"
+  echo "Please Switch from fmt.Errorf to \`errors\` to fix the following files:"
   echo "${bad_files}"
   exit 1
 fi
diff --git a/pkg/controller/kubefedcluster/clusterclient.go b/pkg/controller/kubefedcluster/clusterclient.go
index 2d11a25dd4..03066f716a 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/kubefedcluster/clusterclient.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/kubefedcluster/clusterclient.go
@@ -71,13 +71,11 @@ func NewClusterClientSet(c *fedv1b1.KubeFedCluster, client generic.Client, fedNa
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	clusterConfig.Timeout = timeout //nolint:staticcheck
+	clusterConfig.Timeout = timeout
 	var clusterClientSet = ClusterClient{clusterName: c.Name}
-	if clusterConfig != nil {
-		clusterClientSet.kubeClient = kubeclientset.NewForConfigOrDie((restclient.AddUserAgent(clusterConfig, UserAgentName)))
-		if clusterClientSet.kubeClient == nil {
-			return nil, nil
-		}
+	clusterClientSet.kubeClient = kubeclientset.NewForConfigOrDie((restclient.AddUserAgent(clusterConfig, UserAgentName)))
+	if clusterClientSet.kubeClient == nil {
+		return nil, nil
 	}
 	return &clusterClientSet, nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/kubefedctl/federate/util.go b/pkg/kubefedctl/federate/util.go
index 14044ed8a3..36a4ce0810 100644
--- a/pkg/kubefedctl/federate/util.go
+++ b/pkg/kubefedctl/federate/util.go
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func apiResourceGroupMatchesSkipName(skipAPIResourceNames []string, group string
 }
 
 func apiResourceMatchesSkipName(apiResource metav1.APIResource, skipAPIResourceNames []string, group string) bool {
-	names := append(controllerCreatedAPIResourceNames, skipAPIResourceNames...)
+	names := append(controllerCreatedAPIResourceNames, skipAPIResourceNames...) //nolint:gocritic
 	for _, name := range names {
 		if name == "" {
 			continue
diff --git a/pkg/schedulingtypes/replicascheduler.go b/pkg/schedulingtypes/replicascheduler.go
index 537fe3fdd8..05563cfb42 100644
--- a/pkg/schedulingtypes/replicascheduler.go
+++ b/pkg/schedulingtypes/replicascheduler.go
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ func clustersReplicaState(
 				return nil, nil, status, err
 			}
 
-			podResult := podanalyzer.PodAnalysisResult{}
+			var podResult podanalyzer.PodAnalysisResult
 			podResult, status = podanalyzer.AnalyzePods(podList, time.Now())
 			currentReplicasPerCluster[clusterName] = int64(podResult.RunningAndReady) // include pending as well?
 			unschedulable := int64(podResult.Unschedulable)
diff --git a/scripts/download-binaries.sh b/scripts/download-binaries.sh
index 0d4191711d..899a83b2b0 100755
--- a/scripts/download-binaries.sh
+++ b/scripts/download-binaries.sh
@@ -52,13 +52,13 @@ curl "${curl_args}" "${kb_url}" \
 export KUBEBUILDER_ASSETS="${dest_dir}"
 echo "Setting to KUBEBUILDER_ASSETS ${dest_dir}"
 
-helm_version="3.3.4"
+helm_version="3.6.0"
 helm_tgz="helm-v${helm_version}-${platform}-amd64.tar.gz"
 helm_url="https://get.helm.sh/$helm_tgz"
 curl "${curl_args}" "${helm_url}" \
     | tar xzP -C "${dest_dir}" --strip-components=1 "${platform}-amd64/helm"
 
-golint_version="1.31.0"
+golint_version="1.40.1"
 golint_dir="golangci-lint-${golint_version}-${platform}-amd64"
 golint_tgz="${golint_dir}.tar.gz"
 golint_url="https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/releases/download/v${golint_version}/${golint_tgz}"