Git and Working Like a Developer

Git shows up in almost every job posting for a technical role, but knowing the commands and working like a developer are two different skills. This entry covers what Git actually does, then walks through the habits that make version control useful instead of a chore.

What Git is actually tracking

Git is a distributed version control system. Every clone of a repository has the full history, not just a pointer to a central server. That matters because it means you can commit, branch, and inspect history offline, then sync later with git push and git pull.

At its core, Git tracks snapshots of your files, identified by SHA-1 hashes (moving toward SHA-256 in newer setups). Each commit points to a snapshot plus a parent commit, forming a chain. Branches are just movable pointers to a commit. That's the entire mental model: commits are snapshots, branches are labels, and HEAD is