Git for Beginners | Developer Deep Dive Aug 2026
Time for our August Developer Program Deep Dive — and this one's a proper deep dive.
Chris Humphrey takes a break from Workday-specific topics to go back to basics on Git and version control, walking through the full loop from git init to resolving merge conflicts, with live coding on a totally-not-secret side project called World of Workday.
We also cover program news: MVP applications are open, the Developer Program is (almost) opening to everyone, and our very own Workday Developer YouTube channel is finally official.
🎬 NEW: Workday Developer YouTube channel is here — stay tuned for details
🔓 Developer Program opening up to everyone soon — waitlist coming at developer.workday.com
🏆 Developer MVP applications are open — apply now, pilot round just wrapped
🌏 Built on Workday Developer Days: Sydney — next month, pilot Open Developer access + Dev Agent for attendees: https://luma.com/j6isgz45?tk=gF1c2I
⚙️ WCPDev tenants are retiring — but it's for the best reason! They are to be replaced by new custdev tenants that will be able to promote model components from dev to impl!
🔧 Git & GitHub 101 — the four zones, staging, committing, branching, merging, and resolving your first merge conflict, live
🐙 Live demo: connecting a local repo to GitHub with git remote and git push
📍 Find a developer meetup near you or sign up to host: https://luma.com/workdaydevelopermeetups
🏆 Apply for the Developer MVP Program: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Workda...
📝 Sign up for the Developer Program waitlist: developer.workday.com
🌏 Register for Built on Workday Developer Days — Sydney: https://luma.com/j6isgz45?tk=gF1c2I
Chapters
[0:00] Welcome & Forward-Looking Statements
[1:20] Developer Pulse Survey Coming Soon
[2:13] Developer MVP Applications Now Open
[3:11] Developer Program Opening to Everyone (Waitlist Soon)
[5:13] New Workday Developer YouTube Channel Announced
[6:33] Built on Workday Developer Days: Sydney Announcement
[8:30] WCP Dev Tenants Retiring — New Cust Dev Tenants
[12:34] Intro to Git: Why Learn Version Control
[14:01] What Is Git? The Time Machine Analogy
[18:19] The Four Zones: Working Dir, Staging, Local Repo, Remote
[21:59] Live Demo Setup: Building "World of Workday"
[23:29] git init & The .git Folder
[27:17] git status, Staging & Unstaging Files
[29:42] git commit and Writing Good Commit Messages
[35:43] Branches Explained
[37:19] Live Demo: Creating and Switching Branches
[42:17] Merging Branches & What Merge Conflicts Really Mean
[47:38] Live Demo: Resolving a Merge Conflict
[52:02] Connecting to GitHub: git remote & git push
[55:55] Wrap-Up: What's Next (Pull Requests, Forking)
[59:39] Q&A: Git Stash, Worktrees, GitHub Desktop & Favorite Tools