GitHub for Everyone

Building tech communities can be fairly easy. It usually involves convincing people to get involved, hosting meetups and taking awesome group photographs. But there is more to it. A great tech community is one that learns together, builds together and networks better.

After the maiden edition of #IngressiveRSU, one question persisted in our minds: how do we get everyone in the Rivers State University (RSU) Ingressive Community to collaboratively build awesome and useful things? Would our skills level be the challenge? Or would our ability to seamlessly collaborate restrict us? With time it became clear that the bigger challenge would be our ability to collaborate, and as such we needed to fix it. The solution was simple, get everyone to learn and use GitHub.

On the 28th of March, as planned, members of the RSU Ingressive Community gathered, and as usual they gathered to share ideas; this time on how to learn and use GitHub for collaboration.

Things started proper with an Introduction to Git and GitHub talk given by me. It was a quick and simple introduction to the concept of Git and GitHub. Particular mention was made of the difference between Git and GitHub and how they work.

Up next was Jonathan Barisere who spoke about Version Control as a Basic Skill. He highlighted and demonstrated the usefulness of Git and the many problems it solve. It was an eye-opener as newbies were exposed to the awesome world of version control and how it makes the software development process better and saner.

After some games and light-hearted jokes, Brown Samson Dappa was ready to give his Painless Introduction to GitHub talk. He explained the different features of GitHub and how they make version tracking possible and easy. He ended his talk with a live demo, which took us all through the steps involved in setting up a GitHub account to the creating of a repository.

To keep things going smoothly and liven the atmosphere, next up was refreshment and games time. And after everyone had gotten something light to munch on, I gave my GitHub for Collaboration talk. It was a live demo talk that covered the stages involved in collaborating on a small sample project with another individual using GitHub. I carefully explained and demonstrated the basic steps required when working with another person on a small project. Everyone got to see how easy it actually is to collaborate using GitHub.

Four talks and many games and prizes down the line, it was obvious that our goal of painlessly introducing everyone to GitHub was achieved. We could see the sparkles in the eyes of those who got introduced to GitHub for the first time. Brilliant questions were asked and answers were provided.

Many thanks to the good people at Ingressive and GitHub, without which such a memorable experience would not have been possible.

Shout out to Sokari Gillis-Harry (Co-founder, for dropping by, you inspire us everytime we see you.

Going forward, the RSU Ingressive Community can only get bigger and better.