GitHub Onboarding

What is GitHub?

GitHub is a platform used to store code, collaborate on projects, and track changes using Git. It is widely used in industry and open-source development.

You will use GitHub to:

• Store your projects
• Contribute to team repositories
• Showcase your work publicly

It keeps track of all your progress, an authethic report of all your work!

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Step-by-Step Setup

1. Sign up for GitHub

• Go to https://github.com
• Create an account using your email

2. Verify your email address

• Check your inbox and verify your account

3. Complete your profile

• Add a profile picture
• Add a short bio
• Set your username professionally

4. Create your first repository

• Click New Repository
• Give it a name
• Initialize with a README
• Make it PUBLIC

5. Explore GitHub features

• Stars
• Forks
• Pull Requests
• Issues

Key GitHub Features

Stars

Stars are a way to bookmark or show appreciation for a repository.

You can use stars to:

• Save repositories you like
• Discover popular projects
• Show support to open-source maintainers

Think of stars as a “like” or favorite button on GitHub. Make sure to star all of Dijkstra’s repositories!

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Forks

A fork is your personal copy of someone else’s repository.

Forks are useful when:

• You want to experiment without affecting the original project
• You want to contribute to open source
• You want to learn by modifying existing code

After making changes in a fork, you can open a Pull Request.

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Pull Requests (PRs)

Pull Requests are how you propose changes to a repository.

A PR:

• Shows what code you changed
• Allows maintainers to review your work
• Enables discussion before merging changes

Once approved, your changes get merged into the main project.

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Issues

Issues are used to track bugs, ideas, and tasks.

Issues can be:

• Bug reports
• Feature requests
• Questions or discussions

They help teams organize work and communicate clearly.

👉 Next: Git Basics