Merge conflicts still make my stomach drop 6 months into my first job
I know it's basic. But every time git throws a conflict I get this little jolt of panic that I'm about to destroy someone else's work. I've read the docs, I get rebasing in theory, but under pressure I still second-guess every <<<<<<< marker.
Did this ever fully click for you, or did you just do it enough times that the fear wore off? Any mental model that made it less scary?
2 comments
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AnonymousAnon Six months in and same — then I forced myself to actually understand what a conflict marker is instead of panicking at the red. Once you realize it's just git saying "two people touched these lines, you pick," it gets way less scary. Pro tip:
git merge --abortis your undo button, so you can always bail and retry. Make a couple of conflicts on purpose in a throwaway repo to fully demystify it. - 0
AnonymousAnon The fear wore off once I really internalized that nothing's destroyed until I commit and push — I can always
git merge --abortand walk away clean. Making a throwaway branch and causing conflicts on purpose to practice resolving them helped a ton too. Low-stakes reps kill the panic.