Stop 13 · Version Control, Git & CollaborationTopics · 1/7

Git & GitHub Basics for Analysts

In short

"final_query_v3_REAL_final.sql" is a cry for help. Git keeps every version of your work with a note on what changed, and GitHub lets your team see and review it.

Enough Git to track changes to your SQL scripts and notebooks and share work with a team — commit, push, pull, and basic branching, without needing full software-engineering-level Git mastery.

The jaadu flips through a thick notebook full of coloured sticky tabs beside a small two-branched plant.

Think of it like this

Mummy's recipe notebook

Every time Mummy tweaks her rajma recipe, she writes the new version on a fresh page with the date and a note: "less salt, more tomato". Old pages stay, so she can always go back. Git does this for your queries, page by page.

Watch it happen

Fixing a query the Git way

Your laptop

GitHub

Teammate

git clone

1/6You download the team's repository, a folder whose full history Git tracks.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Commit = saved snapshot

A commit records exactly what changed, who changed it and a message explaining why.

Branch = safe sandbox

Work on a branch so the main version stays clean while you experiment.

Pull request = review

Ask a teammate to check your change on GitHub before it goes into main. Two eyes catch more bugs.

Nothing is really lost

Every past version stays in history. You can see what a query looked like last March in seconds.

See it in code

Walk through the code

bash

1git clone https://github.com/your-team/sales-analysis.git2cd sales-analysis3git switch -c fix-churn-query4# ...edit queries/churn.sql...5git status6git add queries/churn.sql7git commit -m "Use 90-day window for churn"8git push -u origin fix-churn-query

1/4Clone copies the repository and its history to your laptop.

The everyday loop: clone once, then branch, edit, commit and push for each change.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Writing commit messages like "update" or "changes".

Do this instead

Say what and why: "Exclude test accounts from WAU". Future you will be grateful.

Oops

Committing straight to main without anyone looking.

Do this instead

Use a branch and a pull request, even on small teams. Reviews catch silent logic errors.

Your mission

Your first analysis repo

~30 min

Quick check

Why work on a branch instead of directly on main?

Go deeper

1Create a GitHub account and push a small SQL/notebook project to a repository.
2Practice a basic commit-push-pull cycle on a personal project.
3Learn to write a clear commit message describing what changed and why.