A lot of developers often say things like “Git is easy, once you know it”. I’m sick of reading those comments. Git is easy. Period. You can definitely make it as easy as you want. You don’t need to know what cherry picking is to use Git, you don’t need to rebase everything all the time; all of that is extra. What you need to be able to do is pull, commit and push. Those three commands can get everyone going. Sure, there’s a lot more to it, but you can learn that as you go (if you want to). The point is, you don’t need to know the rest.

To go even further, I actually think more people should learn how to use Git (or any other distributed version control system). Not only programmers, but also designers, scientists, architects, journalists, etc.
Seriously, there are only benefits. You just need to get into the mindset of not only saving your work, but also making backups continuously. Because that’s what a version control system basically is if you use it on your own.
It shouldn’t take a designer too long to learn how to make a repository and do commits. Next thing to learn is how to go back in history. And that’s it really.

Book review: “Git: Version Control for Everyone”

I suggest taking a look at Git: Version Control for Everyone. This book is perfect for the less technical when it comes to Git. When I read the description I was interested in seeing how the writer would go about this topic. I was pleasantly surprised. I think the author found a way to explain the basics in a very simple way and to make it all look even easier than it already is.

The further you go in the book, the more advanced it gets. But you don’t need to read all of it if you’re not ready or don’t need it. The first couple of chapters can already get you started and you’ll be creating backups of your work in no time. I honestly think this can greatly improve your professional life, no matter what you do, as long as you’re creating content on a computer.

The book is full of good information. From absolute basics like why you need version control, how to set up Git and the basic commands, to branching and even a deep explanation of how Git works under the hood.
The writing is very informal, which I personally like in a tech book, and I think it’s a good fit for a tech book targeted to less technical people.

So in case you’re interested, check out the book. It’s a great way to get going.