Importance of Version Control for All the Work You Do
In your Documents folder do you have a Final-Report-V1, Final-Report-vFinal, Final-Report-vFinal-Johns-comments, etc.? How about the experience of having worked on a software assignment all night long, only to have something, somewhere cause a crash minutes before it is due? Then you have seen a glimpse of the importance of version control to your company, and more importantly, to your career. The Importance As a student, backups and constantly saving files was a personal CYA, and unless you were working on a team, a lost file only hurt you. You also had the generous benefit that when the term was done, you could burn, delete, kill, or otherwise maim any document you had spent so much time on and have no repercussions. Now, as the professional you, there is much more at stake when a file goes missing or bugs creep in at the last moment. While there is a large amount of personal CYA that benefits of good use of version control, the company has a legal and financial obligation to keep good records and …