There are many things I admire and feel grateful for when it comes to Linus Torvalds, but two stand above everything else. His contributions to the modern world through the Linux operating system and Git have fundamentally shaped how we build, run, and collaborate on technology today. Together, they form the invisible backbone of modern computing, from servers and cloud platforms to everyday software development.
When people think about cloud or software engineering, they usually think about programming languages, frameworks, or cloud platforms. Python, JavaScript, AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform. And these tend to dominate learning roadmaps.
But there is one tool that quietly underpins almost all of modern engineering work.
That tool is Git
Git is often treated as something you “pick up along the way” a few commands here, a tutorial there. In reality, Git is not just a version control system. It is a core engineering skill that shapes how you think, collaborate, recover from mistakes, and scale your work.
If you want to be effective as a cloud engineer or software engineer, mastering Git is not optional.
What is Git?
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. It helps you track changes to files over time. It allows you to save snapshots of your work (called commits), experiment safely using branches, and return to any previous state if something goes wrong. Imagine you’re building a web application. You add a new login feature and save your progress as a commit. Later, you realise the change introduced a bug. Instead of panicking or rewriting everything, Git lets you roll back to the last working version, fix the issue on a separate branch, and merge it back safely once it’s ready.
In short, Git gives engineers the freedom to move fast, experiment confidently, and collaborate without fear of losing work.
Git Is the Source of Truth in Modern Engineering
In modern teams, Git is the system of record.
Your code lives in Git.
Your infrastructure lives in Git.
Your documentation lives in Git.
Your CI/CD pipelines are triggered by Git.
Your production changes are reviewed through Git.
If something goes wrong in production, one of the first questions asked is:
“What changed?”
The answer is almost always found in Git.
Understanding how to read commit history, diffs, branches, and pull requests gives you visibility into why systems behave the way they do, not just how.
Without Git fluency, you’re working blind.
Git Teaches You How Real Engineering Actually Works
Many beginners imagine engineering as writing perfect code in isolation. Git quickly destroys that illusion, and that’s a good thing.
Git introduces you to real-world concepts such as:
- Incremental change
- Experimentation without fear
- Rolling back mistakes
- Working in parallel with others
- Reviewing and improving each other’s work
Branches teach you that work is rarely linear.
Commits teach you to think in small, meaningful changes.
Pull requests teach you that clarity and communication matter as much as correctness.
These habits translate directly into better engineering decisions, even outside of Git.
Git Is How Teams Scale Safely
As soon as you work with more than one person, Git becomes essential.
Without Git:
- Changes overwrite each other
- Mistakes are hard to trace
- Collaboration becomes chaotic
With Git:
- Multiple engineers can work simultaneously
- Changes are reviewed before merging
- Mistakes are recoverable
- Accountability is built into the workflow
This is especially critical in cloud environments, where a single misconfigured line can have wide-ranging consequences.
Git allows teams to move fast without breaking everything.
Git Is the Backbone of DevOps and Cloud Workflows
In cloud and DevOps roles, Git is not just for application code.
It is central to:
- Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation)
- Configuration management
- CI/CD pipelines
- Environment promotion (dev → test → prod)
- Audit and compliance trails
Most modern pipelines follow a simple principle:
A Git commit triggers automation.
If you don’t understand Git deeply, you don’t fully understand the systems you’re operating.
Learning Git properly unlocks a clearer mental model of how cloud platforms, automation, and deployments actually work together.
Git Builds Confidence Through Reversibility
One of Git’s most underrated benefits is psychological.
Git gives you permission to experiment.
When you know:
- You can create a branch
- You can revert a commit
- You can reset, rebase, or recover
You stop being afraid of breaking things.
That confidence accelerates learning. Engineers who understand Git well tend to:
- Try more ideas
- Learn faster
- Take ownership
- Debug more effectively
Git turns mistakes into learning events instead of disasters.
Git Is a Career Multiplier
From a career perspective, Git fluency shows up everywhere:
- Technical interviews
- Code reviews
- On-call debugging
- Incident post-mortems
- Open-source contributions
- Promotions into senior roles
Engineers who are comfortable explaining why they structured commits a certain way, or how they resolved a complex merge, signal maturity far beyond their years of experience.
Git mastery doesn’t just help you write code, it helps you think like a professional engineer.
Learning Git Is an Investment That Compounds
The best part about learning Git properly is that it pays off repeatedly.
Once you understand:
- How history works
- How branches really behave
- How to move safely through commits
- How to recover from mistakes
Every future tool becomes easier to learn. Git concepts show up everywhere! from deployment workflows to collaboration patterns. The time you invest once continues to return value throughout your career.
Git is not just a tool you use on the side.
It is:
- A collaboration system
- A safety net
- A thinking framework
- A professional baseline
If you’re serious about becoming a cloud engineer or software engineer, learning Git deeply is one of the highest-return investments you can make.
Not because it’s trendy.
But because everything else is built on top of it.
Free Learning Resources
Please see some free learning materials and resources below. To note: I’m not affiliated with any of those. These are some of my personal favorite resources.
Beginner-Friendly & Interactive
- Git SCM – Pro Git Book
=> https://git-scm.com/book
The official Git book, completely free. Excellent for building a solid mental model from basics to advanced topics (highly recommended) - GitHub – GitHub Docs (Git Basics)
=> https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/using-git
Very approachable explanations with real-world workflows used by teams. - Codecademy – Learn Git
=> https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-git
Interactive and beginner-friendly. Great if you learn best by doing.
For Visual & Conceptual Learners
- Learn Git Branching
=> https://learngitbranching.js.org
One of the best visual tools for understanding branches, merges, rebase, and HEAD (highly recommended) - Atlassian – Git Tutorials
=> https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials
Clear explanations of Git concepts with diagrams and practical examples.
Practice-Driven
- Git Immersion
=> https://gitimmersion.com
Step-by-step guided lessons focused on using Git locally — great for command-line confidence.
Tip: Git is best learned by using it. Reading helps, but experimenting, breaking things, and recovering from mistakes is where real understanding begins. I would say, best thing to do pick any link you prefer, create a virtual machine in your system and get cracking with git command line.
Happy learning 🙂
