Your path by role
Beginner Core Git
Why this matters
The course is complete, which also means it is long. Nobody needs all of it on day one. Find your role below, follow the "read first" list, and come back for the rest when the need appears. Every path starts the same way: How to use this course, then Sections 1 and 2, because the picture in your head matters more than any command.
| Role | Core sections | Recommended next | Labs | Time for the core |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technical writer | 1–5, 6, 7, 9 (or 10), 11, 13 | 8, 14, 15 or 16, 12 | 1–4 | ≈ 2 days |
| QA / tester | 1–5, 6, 7, 9 (or 10), 14 | 11, 12, 13, 15 or 16 | 1–3 | ≈ 1.5 days |
| Analyst | 1–5, 6, 7, 8 | 9 or 10, 11, 12, 15 | 1–3 | ≈ 1.5 days |
| Product / project | 1, 2, 6 (concepts), 7 (concepts), 9 (or 10), 13, 14 | 5, 11, 12 | 1 | ≈ 1 day |
| Support / operations | 1–5, 7, 9 (or 10), 12, 13 | 6, 8, 14 | 1, 2, 5 | ≈ 1.5 days |
| Junior developer | everything in order | — | all six | ≈ 1 week |
"9 (or 10)" means: read the section for the platform your team uses, and skim the other one for vocabulary.
Technical writer
Git is your filing system. You edit Markdown in the repository, open merge requests for review, apply reviewers' suggestions, and keep documentation in step with releases. You will also review other people's documentation changes.
- Read first: Fundamentals (especially the Markdown lesson), Mental Model, Install, Files & Folders, Everyday Git.
- Then: Branches, Remotes, your platform (GitLab or GitHub), Merge Conflicts (documentation conflicts are the most common kind), Team Workflows.
- Labs: 1, 2, 3, 4.
- Later: Authentication & Security, CI/CD (docs pipelines), your IDE section, Undo & Recovery.
QA / tester
You check out the branch under test, run the program, file precise bug reports that name the commit, and verify fixes. Pipelines are your friend: a red pipeline is a bug report written by a machine.
- Read first: Sections 1–5.
- Then: Branches, Remotes, your platform, CI/CD.
- Labs: 1, 2, 3.
- Later: Merge Conflicts, Undo & Recovery, Team Workflows (the bug-report lesson), your IDE section.
Analyst
You version your scripts, notebooks and query files, work on a branch, and want to know exactly what changed between two versions. Secrets in configuration files are your biggest risk.
- Read first: Sections 1–5.
- Then: Branches, Remotes, Authentication & Security (never commit a key).
- Labs: 1, 2, 3.
- Later: your platform, Merge Conflicts, Undo & Recovery, Git in VS Code.
Product / project
You rarely commit, but you read merge requests and pipelines every day, link issues to changes, and need to know what "merged", "deployed" and "released" actually mean.
- Read first: Fundamentals, Mental Model, the concept lessons of Branches and Remotes, your platform, Team Workflows, CI/CD.
- Labs: 1 (so the words have a feel).
- Later: Everyday Git, Merge Conflicts, Undo & Recovery.
Support / operations
You find which commit changed a behaviour, read release notes and tags, and sometimes apply a small fix on a hotfix branch. Recovery skills matter more for you than for most.
- Read first: Sections 1–5.
- Then: Remotes, your platform, Undo & Recovery, Team Workflows (hotfix and release workflows).
- Labs: 1, 2, 5.
- Later: Branches, Authentication & Security, CI/CD.
Junior developer
Read everything in order. The sections you are most likely to be missing are Team Workflows, Undo & Recovery, CI/CD and Expert Git. Do all six labs; Lab 6 is a rehearsal of a real sprint.