Why I’m Using Git for This Project

When getting started with my multi-tier application, one of the things my mentor and I discussed was the importance of setting up proper version control. Honestly, I thought I knew Git well enough from school projects, but using it for a real application has been a different experience entirely. Git allows me to try new things without worrying about breaking what already works. If something goes wrong, I can always roll back to a previous state. It’s like having a safety net that lets me experiment and learn without the fear of permanently messing things up.

Protection Against Losing Your Work

Another huge benefit of Git is that it protects you from losing your code. We’ve all heard horror stories about someone’s computer crashing and losing weeks of work, or accidentally deleting files with no way to recover them. With Git, especially when pushing to remote repositories like GitHub, your code exists in multiple places. Even if my laptop died tomorrow, all my work is safely stored remotely. This peace of mind is so important when you’re putting hours into building something. Beyond hardware failures, Git also protects against those moments where you accidentally delete something important or make changes you can’t easily undo manually. Knowing that my entire project history is backed up means I can focus on building rather than worrying about losing everything.

Keeping Everything Organized

One thing I’ve really come to appreciate is how Git helps me stay organized. When you’re working across multiple layers of an application—frontend, backend, database—it’s easy to lose track of what you’ve changed and why. Git forces me to be intentional about my work. I create feature branches for new functionality, write clear commit messages explaining my changes, and keep my main branch clean and stable. Looking back through my commit history, it’s great to be able to see exactly how the project has evolved over time and understand which decisions led to certain outcomes.

Managing and Tracking Changes Over Time

The ability to track changes over time has been more valuable than I initially expected. Sometimes I’ll implement a feature one way, then realize later there was a better approach. Being able to look back at my old commits and see my reasoning helps me learn from those decisions. Git also makes debugging so much easier when something breaks, I can use tools like git diff and git log to pinpoint exactly when and where things went wrong. Every commit tells a story about what I was working on and why, which creates this detailed record of the project’s development.

Preparing for Collaboration

Git is helping me learn how to work in team environments. My mentor will be reviewing my code through pull requests, which simulates how professional teams work together. This workflow will teach me to think about how others will read and understand my code. When multiple people work on the same codebase, Git becomes essential for managing different contributions, resolving conflicts, and maintaining code quality. Learning these collaboration patterns now means I won’t be caught off guard when I join a development team.

Resources for Learning Git

For anyone looking to learn Git or improve their version control skills, I highly recommend checking out the GitHub Get Started documentation. It provides comprehensive guides on everything from basic Git commands to advanced workflows, all explained in a clear and accessible way. I reference these docs regularly when I encounter new scenarios or need to refresh my understanding of specific Git features. Whether you’re just starting your development journey or looking to deepen your Git knowledge, these resources are an excellent place to begin. Version control might seem intimidating at first, but with practice and good documentation, it quickly becomes an indispensable part of your development toolkit.

This post is part of my multi-tier application development series, where I document the tools, technologies, and practices I’m learning as I build production-ready applications.