Cherry-picked reasons to have a GitHub account

With over 88 million users and more than 200 million repositories, GitHub has proven to be a major hub for computing enthusiasts to build a profile and brand for themselves.

So, what exactly is GitHub? GitHub is an online software development platform that enables users to store, track and collaborate on software projects. However, it is imperative to note that Git and GitHub are two separate entities.?

Git is a version control system that lets one manage and keep track of the source code history, whereas GitHub is a cloud-based hosting service that enables the users to manage Git repositories. Git and GitHub both provide valuable version-control functionality to programmers, allowing them to work on ongoing coding projects without fear of messing everything up. GitHub simply goes a step further than Git, providing more functionality and resources, as well as a place to store and collaborate on projects online.

Following are some reasons why aspiring computer professionals should have a GitHub account.

Contributing to open source projects:

GitHub manages most open-source projects. It is free for open-source projects and provides a wiki and issue tracker for detailed documentation and feedback.

Documentation:

Using GitHub simplifies the process of acquiring high-quality documentation. Their help section and tutorials cover virtually every Git-related topic imaginable, and they offer articles on each of them.

Showcasing your work:

GitHub enables users to create a portfolio which enables them to present examples of their work. This would serve as a digital resume and demonstrate that the users possess the abilities they claim to have.?

Enhancing collaboration:

Collaboration on GitHub makes it easier for teams that utilise GitHub to do more enhanced peer code edits and reviews together.

Social Networking:

In addition to version control and code updates, GitHub supports a wide range of communication options like messaging, commenting making it easier to interact with different users and get valuable insights.

Provision of Integration options:

Integrations are tools and services that connect with GitHub to complement and extend the users’ workflow. These can be GitHub Apps, OAuth Apps, or anything that utilises GitHub APIs or webhooks. This enables users to facilitate flexibility and reduce friction in their workflow.

Are you excited to delve deeper into Git and GitHub? Here are some steps that you can get started with to explore Git and GitHub:

1. Sign up for a free GitHub account. (https://github.com/join)
2. Refer to the GitHub Hello World guide to understand the most popular actions you might want to take (https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/quickstart/hello-world)