Hands-on Git & GitHub Workshop

As a MENTOR with Google Developer Groups (GDG) On Campus, Manipal University Jaipur, I conducted a hands-on workshop introducing students to modern version control and collaborative software development using Git and GitHub.

The session was designed for beginners and focused on building practical skills through live coding and real-world development workflows rather than theory alone. Participants worked alongside the instructor, creating repositories, managing branches, resolving merge conflicts, and collaborating using GitHub.

Topics Covered

• Introduction to Version Control Systems
• Installing and configuring Git
• Git workflow and repository initialization
• Creating and managing branches
• Commit history and best practices
• Merge conflicts and conflict resolution
• Working with remote repositories
• GitHub Pull Requests
• Issues and Project Discussions
• Forking and contributing to Open Source
• GitHub Pages deployment
• Professional GitHub profile optimization

Hands-on Activities

Participants completed practical exercises including:

• Creating a local Git repository
• Connecting to GitHub
• Branch creation and merging
• Raising Pull Requests
• Reviewing and merging code
• Resolving merge conflicts
• Collaborating on a shared repository
• Making their first Open Source contribution workflow

Impact

• Mentored 120+ undergraduate students
• Helped beginners become comfortable with Git-based development workflows
• Encouraged participation in Open Source through GDG and GitHub
• Guided students in maintaining clean commit histories and collaborative development practices
• Answered technical queries and provided one-on-one mentoring during the hands-on session

Technologies

Git • GitHub • GitHub Desktop • GitHub Pages • Markdown • Version Control • Open Source