Peter Suhm of WP Pusher recently launched a free email-based Git crash course for WordPress developers who want to gain a basic understanding of managing projects with Git. The five-day drip content course is suitable for both plugin and theme developers and begins with instructions on how to structure your projects for an efficient Git workflow.
While Git has many advanced features that could be overwhelming for beginners, the WP Git Crash Course only covers the ones that are directly relevant to WordPress development.
“Overall, this course has two purposes,” Suhm said. “First of all, it is a way for me to establish a connection with visitors of my website who stop by without downloading WP Pusher.
“Secondly, some people arrive on my website and like what they see but are not quite ready to start using WP Pusher because they need more knowledge about Git in order to get started. The course should get them up to speed.”
As Suhm’s WP Pusher product manages deployment of WordPress themes and plugins from GitHub, Git educational resources are a natural extension of his work.
The crash course introduces Suhm’s recommended workflow but doesn’t force the user into a rigid method of structuring projects.
“I have concluded that maybe it is okay that people do things differently than me (but please do not keep your whole WordPress installation under version control!),” he said.
“When I launched WP Pusher it was very opinionated and only supported my way of keeping WordPress under version control. Today it is much more flexible and works even if you keep multiple plugins or themes in one repository – something I would have sworn to never support.”
Suhm is passionate about development best practices and workflow and often blogs on these topics. As a newcomer to the WordPress community, he offers a unique perspective.
“In the Laravel community, we see many new arrivals of people from the world of WordPress,” he said. “For me it is the opposite. I am reentering the WordPress community after years of working with Laravel and Symfony, and I actually think I can bring something new to the table.”
Aside from freelance work he did years ago, WP Pusher is Suhm’s first real venture into the WordPress world. After just five months, he’s pleased with how well his plugin has been received.
“I have been lucky enough to meet a lot of great people in the WordPress community, both IRL and online,” he said. “Some of them have been extremely supportive and generously shared their experiences with me, which has really given me a head start.”
Suhm is determined to keep creating educational content for the WordPress community and will be running the Git crash course for as long as people are interested. The course is not a complete, extensive guide to Git, as it just touches the surface. He plans to update it to add more advanced topics once he receives more feedback.
If you’re just getting started integrating Git into your workflow for WordPress development, this crash course is a handy, concise resource for getting up to speed. You can sign up for the free course on WPPusher.com.
Always great to see some more developer-focused and modern workflows for WordPress. Good job Peter!