12 Git Developer interview questions and answers

Sometimes, it’s best to start with the basics. Asking this question will give you a better gauge of how well the respondent understands what Git is and how it’s used. The interviewee should tell you it’s the most popular open-source distributed version control system (VCS) that tracks changes in computer files. It helps facilitate source code management in software development. 

Git developers should also be able to explain how Git uses the C language, which helps reduce the overhead of runtimes, and Git’s ability to handle large projects and workflow efficiently.

This is another basic Git comprehension question. The candidate should be able to describe some or all of the following commands:

• Git commit: This function sends a commit message
• Git config: The Git config command helps configure username and email
• Git add: Process of adding files to a staging area
• Git diff: Allows users to view changes made to a file
• Git init: Process of initializing an empty Git repository 
• Git cherry-pick: Picking arbitrary previous commits 
• Git revert: To undo changes in a previous bad commit or the last commit (Git revert <commit id>)
• Git log: Finding a specific commit in the history

Git developers will be familiar with the Git push command, which is used to push content from a local repository to a remote repository. Bonus points if they can tell you the benefits of Git push with the --force option, which overwrites history on the remote repository with your own local commit history.

This question will tell you whether the Git developer has knowledge of other functions of Git. The respondent should know that a Git pull request fetches and merges changes from a Git remote repository to a local repository, and that it is actually a combination of Git fetch and Git merge.

The interviewee may give you some of the following examples of differences between Git pull and Git fetch:

• Git fetch only downloads new data from remote branches of the repository while Git pull updates the current HEAD branch with changes from the remote server.
• Git fetch doesn’t integrate new data into working files, while Git pull can integrate all new data with current working files.

The respondent should understand the term commit object. Their answer should touch on explanations that it is a set of files that represent the state of a project, and an SHAI name, which is a 40-character string that identifies the commit object. 

This question will further test an applicant’s knowledge of Git functions. The interviewee should be able to tell you how a Git clone command creates a copy of an existing Git repository. Experienced Git developers will be able to tell you that cloning is the easiest way to obtain a copy of a central repository.

Git reset and Git merge are common commands used by Git developers. A strong candidate will know that a Git reset --mixed can undo changes made in the working directory and staging area, while Git merge --abort will stop a merge process altogether and return back to the original state prior to the merge.

Resolving a merge conflict is a common task for a Git developer. The respondent should be able to describe the following steps:

1. Open the conflicted file and make changes.
2. After editing, use the Git add command to stage the new merged content.
3. Finally, create a new commit by using the Git commit command.

The interviewee should be able to describe how Git is an open-source distributed version control system (VCS) to track changes in computer files, while GitHub is a Git repository hosting service that helps teams work together remotely. Many Git developers will have experience working in GitHub.

The applicant may also be able to tell you that SVN and Mercurial are the competitors for Git, while GitLab and Atlassian BitBucket are competitors for GitHub.

This question will tell you whether the interviewee has enough experience working within Git repositories. New branches are individual projects within a Git repository and are different from Git clones, which is the process of creating a copy of an existing Git repository from a Git directory. Another similar but different function is forking, which involves making a copy of a repository.

A Git stash drop command is a commonly used function for Git developers. The respondent should be able to describe how it is used to remove a particular stash that you’re no longer using. Git stash can be used when developers need to switch between Git branches without losing edits in the current branch. 

This technical question will challenge the candidate to think about why you’d use each function as a developer. Look for answers in which the interviewee describes using Git merge to incorporate new commits into your feature branch. Using Git rebase is similar, which involves rebasing the feature branch into the master branch. Typically, it’s preferred to use the Git merge command, as rebasing can be destructive.