5 reasons to use Git even when working alone

Using Git for collaboration on large-scale projects is never really called into question in the professional world.

Nevertheless, we sometimes come across (and I'm speaking from experience) projects developed and maintained by a single person, which are never version-controlled...

But does Git actually have any real value outside of collaboration between multiple developers?

The answer is: yes, without a doubt.

In fact, if you look at the description of the tool, directly on the official website, there's never any mention of teamwork, or even collaboration:

Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency

Simply because versioning your code doesn't just mean sending synchronized code between multiple machines.

So here are 5 reasons to use it even when working alone!

#1 - In case of a mistake

Each commit is supposed to contain a new working version of your software...

But if you've introduced a bug into your code, rather than spending two days searching through every line you wrote, you'll be able to go back to the previous state with a single command line!

#2 - For maintenance

If you've ever contributed to a project beyond version 1.0, you know it's common to work on the next major version of a piece of software while still maintaining the previous version until the next release comes out.

By having 2 separate Git branches, you can keep the work separate, and even merge it back together whenever you want!

#3 - Collaborating in the future

Just because you're working alone on a project today doesn't mean it will always be that way. And in fact, there's a good chance you'll leave the company one day.

Whoever has to take over/maintain your code will be able to do so much more easily with the full history!

This also applies to a freelancer who might come in to collaborate on a one-off basis...

#4 - Backing up your code

Version control with Git won't be enough to protect your code against data loss, because versions are kept locally...

But by using a repository management platform (such as GitHub, GitLab, or BitBucket), your code (and its history) will be stored on a server.

With GitLab, you can even self-host your repositories!

#5 - Deploying your code

Most cloud hosting providers let you deploy new versions of your code simply by pushing your Git history.

Simpler, faster, and above all, less chance of making mistakes!