The Top GitHub Interview Questions You Need To Know in 2023

GitHub has become an essential tool for developers to collaborate and manage code. As one of the most popular Git repository hosting services, knowledge of GitHub is a must-have skill for any developer or DevOps engineer.

With the rising popularity of GitHub, you can expect interviewers to test your GitHub skills and knowledge in technical interviews. In this article, I will cover the most common and important GitHub interview questions that you need to review before your next big coding interview.

GitHub Basics

These fundamental GitHub interview questions aim to validate your basic knowledge

• What is GitHub?

  GitHub is a Git repository hosting service that provides developers with tools to ship better code through command line features, issues (threaded discussions), pull requests, code review, or the use of a collection of free and for-purchase apps in the GitHub Marketplace.

• What is the difference between Git and GitHub?

  Git is a distributed version control system that lets developers track changes to their code over time. GitHub is a cloud-based platform built around the Git version control system that lets developers host and share Git repositories and collaborate with other developers.

• What are the benefits of using GitHub?

  Some key benefits of using GitHub include:

  • Collaboration – Enables developers to collaborate on code together.
  • Version control – Stores revisions of code over time for review and reverting back.
  • Project management – Provides project management tools like issues and pull requests.
  • Open source community – Serves as a platform for the open source community.
  • Visibility – Provides a way for developers to showcase their work through public repositories.

• What are repositories in GitHub?

  A repository, or repo for short, is a directory or folder where code is stored and managed. Repositories on GitHub can be public or private. Public repos help you share code and collaborate, while private repos restrict access to certain users.

• How do you create a new repository on GitHub?

  To create a new GitHub repository:

  1. Log into your GitHub account.
  2. Click on the + button in the top right and select “New repository”.
  3. Give the repository a name and description.
  4. Select the repository visibility – public or private.
  5. Initialize the repository with a README file.
  6. Click “Create repository”.

• How do you clone a GitHub repository?

  To clone a GitHub repository to your local machine:

  Copy

  git clone https://github.com/<user>/<repo>.git

  This will create a copy of the repository on your local machine.

• What is a fork on GitHub?

  A fork is a copy of a repository that is made on GitHub by a different user. Forking a project allows you to freely experiment with changes without affecting the original. Forks remain attached to the source repo, allowing you to submit a pull request to the original author to update with your changes.

• What are branches in GitHub?

  Branches allow developers to work on different versions of a repository independently from each other. The default branch is usually called main or master. Developers create new branches to work on features or fixes in isolation. These feature branches are then merged back into the main branch when the work is completed.

• How do you create a branch on GitHub?

  There are a few ways to create a new branch on GitHub:

  • On the repository page, click on the “Branch” dropdown and enter the new branch name.
  • Use the command line: git checkout -b <branch-name>
  • On a commit page, click on the Branch button next to the commit SHA.

• What are commits in GitHub?

  A commit is a record of the changes made to the files in your Git repository. Commits contain information like what changes were made, who made the changes, and when they were made. Commits help track the history of code changes and rollback to previous versions if needed.

• How do you commit changes on GitHub?

  To commit changes on GitHub:

  1. Stage the changes using git add .
  2. Commit the staged changes using git commit -m "commit message"
  3. Push the commit to GitHub using git push

This adds the commit to the repository history.

• What is a pull request in GitHub?

  A pull request lets developers notify team members that they want to merge code from one branch into another branch. Changes made on a branch can be reviewed and discussed before merging into the main branch.

Intermediate GitHub Questions

These GitHub interview questions test your deeper knowledge:

• What are GitHub Actions?

  GitHub Actions allow you to automate software development workflows and pipelines directly within your GitHub repository. You can write individual tasks called actions and configure them to run automatically on certain events in your repo.

• How do you use GitHub Pages?

  GitHub Pages provide free and easy hosting for websites directly from a GitHub repository. Static sites can be published from a repo by pushing to a special gh-pages branch. GitHub handles the hosting, DNS, and SSL certificates for you.

• What are webhooks in GitHub?

  GitHub webhooks allow external services to be notified when events happen on a repository. Services can subscribe to events like pushes, pull requests, issues, and more. When an event occurs, GitHub will send a HTTP POST payload to the webhook’s configured URL.

• How do you integrate GitHub with Slack?

  You can integrate GitHub and Slack to get notifications in your Slack channel when events occur on your GitHub repo. Under your repository settings, configure the Slack integration by adding the Slack workspace and choosing which events should send notifications.

• How do you use the GitHub CLI tool?

  The GitHub CLI provides a command line interface to GitHub so you can work with GitHub from your terminal. After installation, you can run commands like gh repo create, gh issue status, gh pr checkout among many others to work with GitHub repositories and issues/pull requests.

• How do you configure webhooks on GitHub?

  To configure webhooks on GitHub:

  1. Go to Settings > Webhooks in your repository.
  2. Click “Add webhook”.
  3. Set the payload URL where GitHub will send notifications.
  4. Select which events should trigger the webhook.
  5. Configure the secret token and SSL verification settings.
  6. Click “Add webhook”.

• How do you integrate GitHub with CI/CD tools?

  You can integrate GitHub repositories with CI/CD tools like Jenkins, CircleCI, TravisCI, etc. When code is pushed to GitHub, it will trigger your CI/CD pipeline to run automated builds, tests, and deployments. The pipeline status is also reported back to GitHub.

Advanced GitHub Interview Questions

These more advanced GitHub questions evaluate your expert-level knowledge:

• How does GitHub manage permissions and access?

  GitHub uses a permissions system to manage access to repositories and collaborators. Permissions like read, write, and admin access can be granted on the repository level or granularly to individual branches. Teams allow grouping collaborators and setting permissions collectively.

• How do you configure protected branches on GitHub?

  Protected branches prevent team members from accidentally modifying important branches like main or development. To configure:

  1. Go to Settings > Branches.
  2. Under “Protected branches”, choose branches to protect.
  3. Enable required status checks, restrictions, and optional reviews.
  4. Click “Save changes”.

  Now only approved users can push to these protected branches based on your rules.

• What is the GitHub Flow workflow?

  The GitHub Flow is a lightweight workflow for regularly shipping software using just the main branch and feature branches:

  • Main branch is always deployable.
  • Create feature branches from main for new work.
  • Commit changes to the feature branch and open a pull request.
  • After review, merge pull request to main branch.
  • Regularly deploy main branch to production.

• How does GitHub Markdown work?

  GitHub uses a markup language called GitHub Flavored Markdown to allow text formatting like headings, lists, bold, italics, links, and code blocks in plain text files without needing HTML. Markdown files have the .md extension.

• How do you integrate GitHub with your IDE?

  GitHub offers integration with popular IDEs like Visual Studio, VS Code, Atom, etc. This allows you to work with repos directly from the IDE with features like code browsing, committing changes, creating/managing issues and pull requests, and more.

• What are good practices for managing GitHub teams?

  Some best practices for managing teams on GitHub include:

  • Add members to teams instead of repositories for better permission control.
  • Segment teams by product area or functional roles.
  • Require reviews from team leads before merging pull requests.
  • Rotate team ownership periodically.
  • Automate onboarding with GitHub Actions.
  • Audit teams and permissions regularly.

GitHub for Interviews

Preparing for a job interview that will probe your GitHub skills? Here are some tips:

• Review the basics – Know fundamental GitHub concepts like repositories, branches, commits, and pull requests.

• Practice on GitHub – Actively use GitHub for your own projects to gain hands-on experience.

• Highlight your GitHub profile – Have high-quality repositories in your GitHub profile that showcase your work.

• Revise advanced features – Brush up on GitHub Actions