My Professional Journey with Git & GitHub
As a Software Engineer with over 15 years of experience, I have leveraged Git and GitHub extensively for Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) as an essential part of the DevOps lifecycle.
These tools have become a crucial part of how I manage Software Versioning and Configuration Management efficiently. They ensure that every change is tracked, reviewed, and deployed with precision.
I encourage every student to adopt the same discipline — understanding and practicing Git and GitHub will elevate your skills and help you become a respected and confident software engineer.
1. Importance of Git for Software Developers
Git is a distributed version control system that empowers developers to manage changes, work collaboratively, and maintain a history of their codebase. It’s indispensable for teamwork and productivity.
- Maintains complete history of changes.
- Supports branching and merging for parallel development.
- Enables collaborative teamwork.
- Integrates smoothly with DevOps pipelines.
2. What is GitHub?
GitHub is a cloud-based platform that hosts your Git repositories online. It allows developers and teams to share code, review pull requests, and manage projects efficiently.
- Central place for code collaboration.
- Provides version history and issue tracking.
- Enables open-source contribution.
- Works seamlessly with CI/CD tools.
3. How Git and GitHub are Related
Git is your local version control tool, while GitHub is the remote hosting service where your Git repositories live. You code, commit, and version locally using Git — and push those repositories to GitHub for collaboration and sharing.
4. Setting Up Git Locally (NBKRIST Practice)
Follow these steps to configure Git on your local machine:
- Install Git from git-scm.com
- Configure your user details for NBKRIST practice:
- Initialize a new Git repository:
- Add files to the staging area:
- Commit your changes:
git config --global user.name "nbkriststudent"
git config --global user.email "student@nbkrist.com"git initgit add .git commit -m "Initial commit from NBKRIST student"5. Pushing Local Repository to GitHub
Once your local repository is ready, link it to your GitHub remote repository and push your code:
git remote add origin https://github.com/nbkriststudent/nbkristrepo.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main🎉 Great work! Your local repository is now successfully uploaded to GitHub. You’ve just completed your first real DevOps integration step — something every NBKRIST student should master.