Version Control Essentials: Coding with Git & GitHub

This course features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. Learn to take control of your coding projects with confidence through this comprehensive introduction to version control. You'll explore how tools like Git and GitHub streamline collaboration, safeguard your work, and enhance project tracking. By the end, you'll be able to independently manage code changes, resolve conflicts, and contribute to team-based development. Your journey begins with the fundamentals of version control, covering what it is and why it's essential for modern software development. Then you'll dive into Git—learning how to install and configure it, create repositories, make commits, and track project changes. As you move forward, you’ll explore GitHub's cloud-based features, learning how to push local changes, synchronize remote repositories, and use GitHub’s interface effectively. Midway, the course shifts to mastering branches, merges, and resolving conflicts—critical skills for real-world coding. You'll also dive deep into collaboration tools like pull requests, tags, and forks, learning how to manage contributions across teams and open-source projects. The course wraps up with advanced Git workflows and tips to keep your repositories clean and professional. This course is perfect for aspiring developers, data scientists, and project managers who want to build technical confidence. No prior version control experience is necessary, but familiarity with basic software development workflows is helpful. Suitable for beginner to intermediate learners.