git_brother_session_deck

Question 1

What is squash and merge?

Answer 1

Combines all your individual commits into one clean commit when merging a PR - keeps the main/dev log clean instead of showing hundreds of messy trial-and-error commits

Question 2

Why should you squash and merge?

Answer 2

When building a feature you might make hundreds of small commits (fail fast approach) - the team doesn’t need to see all that - squash it into one commit so the log is readable

Question 3

What is forking a repo?

Answer 3

Creating a personal copy of someone else’s repo in your own GitHub space - used when you don’t have write access to the original repo

Question 4

When do you fork vs branch?

Answer 4

Fork when you’re NOT on the team that owns the repo (no write access) - Branch when you ARE on the team and have contributor access to the repo

Question 5

How do you contribute back after forking?

Answer 5

Make all your changes in your forked copy - then open a PR from your fork back to the original repo - the owning team reviews and approves

Question 6

Why do teams restrict branching to their own members?

Answer 6

Prevents outsiders from cluttering the repo with random branches and tags - keeps the repo clean - other teams can view but not modify

Question 7

What is linting?

Answer 7

Automated code quality checks that scan for formatting issues - best practice violations - and sensitive info like passwords or API keys accidentally left in code

Question 8

What is a CAB (Change Approval Board)?

Answer 8

A council of senior technical people who review production changes - you must answer: what is the change - time window - exact steps - rollback procedure if it fails

Question 9

What is a hotfix bypass process?

Answer 9

Emergency path that skips normal CAB review - requires special approval - GitHub admins can temporarily disable branch protection to push critical fixes through

Question 10

What are GitHub Secrets and Variables?

Answer 10

Built-in GitHub feature to store sensitive values (API keys - credentials - tokens) per repo - your code references the variable name so secrets never appear in code files

Question 11

Why use GitHub Secrets instead of .env files in the repo?

Answer 11

Secrets stored in GitHub settings are encrypted and never visible in code - .env files risk being accidentally committed - GitHub Secrets are the enterprise-standard approach

Question 12

What is Artifactory?

Answer 12

A storage system for built software packages and their dependencies - like a GitHub but for compiled/built artifacts instead of source code - stores the deployable output

Question 13

What is a spike in Agile?

Answer 13

An investigation ticket used when you need to research something before you can build it - time-boxed exploration to figure out approach before committing to a full feature

Question 14

What is story pointing?

Answer 14

Team estimates the effort required for each work item before a sprint - helps predict how much work the team can commit to in a two-week cycle

Question 15

What is sprint grooming (refinement)?

Answer 15

A session where the team reviews upcoming work items - breaks them down - estimates effort - and prepares them to be worked on in the next sprint

Question 16

What is a standard sprint cycle?

Answer 16

Two weeks of predefined work - team commits upfront to what they’ll accomplish - daily standups track progress - sprint ends with review and planning for next cycle

Question 17

What happens in a daily standup?

Answer 17

Quick 15-minute team check-in - each person shares: what I did yesterday - what I’m doing today - any blockers - don’t go deep technical - save that for separate meetings

Question 18

What is a Jira board?

Answer 18

A visual project tracking tool with swim lanes (To Do - In Progress - In Review - Done) - each work item is a ticket that moves across the board as you work on it

Question 19

What is the VS Code Git plugin?

Answer 19

Built-in source control tab in VS Code that lets you stage - commit - push - pull - see changes - resolve conflicts - and manage branches without using CLI commands

Question 20

Why use VS Code Git plugin over CLI?

Answer 20

Visual diff comparison - conflict highlighting with accept/reject buttons - branch management - commit history - most devs in corporate environments use the plugin over manual commands daily

Question 21

What does the Source Control tab show in VS Code?

Answer 21

Shows which files are modified - staged - or untracked - lets you view diffs - commit directly - and sync with the remote repo - your primary Git interface day to day

Question 22

Why create the repo in GitHub UI first then clone?

Answer 22

Avoids upstream configuration issues - when you clone from GitHub the remote (origin) is automatically set up correctly - creating locally first can cause complications when pushing

Question 23

Where should you keep cloned repos locally?

Answer 23

Create a dedicated Git folder on your drive (like C:\git) for all repos - makes navigation easy from terminal and keeps everything organized in one known location

Question 24

What does a GitHub organization look like?

Answer 24

A company-wide GitHub account containing many repos - different teams own different repos - repos are tagged (application - internal tool - etc.) - could be thousands of repos

Question 25

What is a repo template?

Answer 25

A standardized base structure that every new team repo is created from - ensures all repos have the same folder layout - config files - workflow files - and security scans

Question 26

What are GitHub Actions?

Answer 26

GitHub's built-in CI/CD tool - runs automated workflows (build - test - scan - deploy) triggered by events like PRs or merges - equivalent to AWS CodePipeline for GitHub repos

Question 27

What automated checks run on a PR in enterprise?

Answer 27

Security scans (passwords/secrets detection) - dependency vulnerability scans - linting (code quality) - build verification (does it compile) - compliance checks (Jira approval status)

Question 28

What is build verification in a PR pipeline?

Answer 28

The pipeline automatically builds your code when you open a PR - if the build fails the PR is blocked - ensures you're not merging broken code

Question 29

What is dependency vulnerability scanning?

Answer 29

Automated check that scans all packages and libraries your code depends on for known security vulnerabilities - blocks the PR if critical issues are found

Question 30

What is a compliance check in a pipeline?

Answer 30

Automated verification that work items are approved and complete - example: pipeline checks Jira to confirm your ticket is in approved state before allowing merge

Question 31

What should you do when you first join a new team?

Answer 31

Ask: what are our team's main repos - are there other teams' repos we depend on - who's the contact for those - is there a sandbox to practice in - have someone walk you through everything

Question 32

How do you explore an unfamiliar codebase?

Answer 32

Search GitHub for keywords related to what the team works on - read READMEs - look at recent PRs to see what changed and why - use AI to explain code in simple terms (no sensitive data)

Question 33

What should you ask about in oh shit moments?

Answer 33

What is the hotfix/emergency process - who can approve bypasses - who has admin access to disable branch protection temporarily - what's the rollback procedure

Question 34

What is the difference between your repo and the source of truth?

Answer 34

Your local repo is your personal working copy - the remote repo on GitHub is the source of truth - everything you do locally means nothing until it's pushed and merged through a PR

Question 35

What does reviewing a PR look like?

Answer 35

You see the exact files changed - lines added (green) and removed (red) - you can comment on specific lines - request changes - or approve - small focused PRs are easier to review

Question 36

Why should PRs be small and focused?

Answer 36

Large PRs are hard to review and more likely to have merge conflicts - aim for quick consistent updates on specific changes - not pages of code dumps

Question 37

How does Git detect merge conflicts?

Answer 37

Git uses file hashes to track changes - if your hash matches the remote hash (no changes) it merges cleanly - if both you and a teammate changed the same file Git flags a conflict

Question 38

What is the first-year reality at a new company?

Answer 38

Drinking from a fire hose - learning proprietary systems - documentation - architecture review - office politics - you may not write much code initially - that's normal

Question 39

What is the AWS equivalent of GitHub Actions?

Answer 39

AWS CodePipeline combined with CodeBuild - handles CI/CD automation - runs tests - builds code - deploys to environments when triggered by code changes

Question 40

What is the AWS equivalent of Artifactory?

Answer 40

AWS CodeArtifact - stores software packages and dependencies - or S3 for storing built Lambda deployment packages and artifacts

Question 41

What is the AWS equivalent of GitHub Secrets?

Answer 41

AWS Secrets Manager or Systems Manager Parameter Store - stores API keys - credentials - connection strings - Lambda functions reference these instead of hardcoding values

Question 42

How do enterprise teams handle shared pipeline code?

Answer 42

Store pipeline templates in a central repo owned by the DevOps team - all other team repos reference that central repo - when DevOps updates the template everyone gets the change automatically

Question 43

What is a wrapper in DevOps context?

Answer 43

A central shared repo that contains the real pipeline code - every team's repo just points to it instead of having their own copy - allows one update to roll out to all teams