House of Test Switzerland

Summary

This hands-on Git workshop goes beyond just learning commands—participants will explore Git’s internals using Gitception, a technique that reveals how Git truly works. Through pairing sessions and real-world exercises, attendees will gain a deep understanding of commits, branching, merging, rebasing, and distributed workflows. The workshop will cover both basic and advanced scenarios, equipping participants with the skills to confidently diagnose and resolve Git issues, collaborate more effectively, and structure repositories for long-term maintainability.

English, German

Full-day, in-person, on-site workshop

Target Group

Developers, Testers, Site Reliability Engineers, and anyone involved in software development or impacted by or interested in getting insights from version control.

Course duration:

1 day

Max participants:

You will learn

Deep Understanding of Git Internals

Confidence to Use Git Beyond the Basics

Applying Git to Real-World Scenarios

Debugging and Fixing Repositories in Unexpected Situations

Improved Version Control with Git

Improved Collaboration with Git

Your Guide

Pablo is a software engineer with extensive experience in Python and JavaScript, as well as a strong background in various other programming languages. As the president of Coders Only, he is passionate about fostering communities where developers can grow their skills through collaboration and hands-on learning. He enjoys organizing events that emphasize clean code, maintainability, and craftsmanship. When he's not coding, you'll find him bouldering, refining his Nix setup, or planning his next outdoor adventure.

Pablo Vergés

Course content

This workshop is designed as a full day of hands-on version control practice, focusing on learning through collaboration and experimentation. Participants will engage in pairing sessions, each uncovering essential mechanics of Git to encourage new insights and deeper understanding.

Introduction: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Git

Why Git is both powerful and confusing
Common frustrations and misconceptions
Why understanding Git deeply is necessary to master it

Hands-on: Introducing Gitception

The concept of self-tracking repositories
Creating a Git repo inside a Git repo to observe Git in action
Exploring .git/ and how Git stores data

Hands-on: Git Internals – The Basics

How commits, blobs, trees, and refs actually work
What happens when you stage and commit changes
Understanding HEAD, branches, and how Git navigates history

Hands-on: Advanced Mechanics – Merging, Rebasing, Cherry-Picking

What happens under the hood during merge conflicts
Rebasing vs. Merging—when and why
Cherry-picking and dealing with accidental commits

Hands-on: The Distributed Nature of Git

Cloning, pushing, and pulling—what's happening in the background
Understanding remote branches and tracking relationships
Handling multiple contributors and syncing work effectively

Wrap-up Discussion & Addressing real-world Git problems participants have faced

Each hands-on session is designed to accommodate both fundamental concepts and advanced exercises, allowing participants to reinforce their existing knowledge while deepening their understanding of Git’s underlying mechanics. The mix of structured challenges ensures that beginners can grasp core concepts while experienced developers can explore more complex scenarios.