Here’s Why IT Newbies Should Join GitHub Immediately

Imagine the hustle and bustle of a restaurant kitchen – but not just a regular one. This kitchen lets you cook many versions of a recipe at once. And that pot roast you overcooked earlier? This kitchen lets you reset it, so it goes back to its raw, uniquely marinated state. Additionally, this kitchen records all the steps in the cooking process, just in case your colleagues want to review or modify them. 

Sounds like a fantastic place to work, right? Well, for a developer, such a place does exist – and it’s called GitHub (Minus the food, add code!)

Within GitHub, developers can:

• Collaborate
• Store current and previous code versions
• Make their open-source projects public
• Practice coding for real-life software to improve their portfolio 
• Contribute to other projects  

Why GitHub is worth joining

GitHub is the largest open-source community today. Sharpening your coding skills here is a great way to shape your portfolio and find a job in IT. 

Not many tech recruiters have a coding background, but they still need an effective way to evaluate candidates, so they use GitHub as a source of information to check what projects a developer collaborated on, how active they’ve been, and how many of their contributions were accepted.

If you use GitHub, keep IT recruiters in mind. Make their life easier and create an attractive CV in a README file. Tell the world about yourself. List your skills and the software stacks you work with. Describe your current and past projects.

After that, HR won’t even have to refer to your LinkedIn profile to hire you!

But what if you prefer non-programming IT professions, such as technical writing? GitHub can be helpful here as well.

Aside from that, GitHub is useful for pro-bono projects. Here they can find collaborators and get things done quickly.

GitHub allows you to join such open-source projects as:

• Python. This programming language has 20 GitHub repositories. There, the Python Software Foundation supports and advances Python-based projects.
• WordPress. Any developer can pull requests to this content management system. Thousands of people around the world use it for their projects.
• Linux. Even if you’ve never used this operating system yourself, you’ve certainly heard of it. What’s more, you can contribute to further developing Linux kernel.

How it works

In GitHub, a programmer modifies the code, saves the changes, and posts them. Other developers see a new code, review it, then decide whether or not to accept. This way, any GitHub user can choose a repository of the project they like and start contributing.

Every repository consists of branches (at least one). A branch allows you to isolate development processes from other branches in the repository. You can test-drive any idea without the risk of ruining what you have completed thus far. 

After you’re done with a new feature, you can send a pull request. Now, your collaborators can review your code and choose whether to accept it. 

Many open-source projects are based on the “Fork & Pull” model. A user clones the repository, creates the code and then sends the pull request to the initial repository owner. This model gives you the freedom to experiment without disturbing other collaborators.

GitHub has many features, but don't worry. To get started, simply sign up and make your first repository.

Wrapping up

GitHub is the most popular source code hosting service. It is used by more than 4 million companies and 94 million developers. Easy-to-use and completely free, GitHub opens collaboration opportunities for junior specialists to gain experience and progress in their careers (Maybe an IT giant will post a new project on GitHub for you to join?)

Both TripleTen’s Software Engineering and Business Intelligence Analytics bootcamps teach GitHub as part of their curriculums! You’ll learn this along with other in-demand skills, such as Power BI and JavaScript. 

Not sure which program to choose or need more details? Schedule a call with one of our admissions advisors today.