Finding My Niche

It's no secret that there are many existing resources for learning Git: courses on CodeAcademy, countless blog posts, free ebooks and more.

But they're all missing one thing - animated visuals. So many Git operations involve moving things from one place to another: add a file to the staging area, branch off and start a feature, rewind history, grow the commit tree. The flowing nature of Git begs for a teaching method that highlights the moving pieces and parts.

Back in 2017, I stumbled on this realization when I started making technical tutorials for my YouTube channel: The Modern Coder. The response to my first animated Git video was deafening. The real-time movements of the commits and branches seemed to unlock understanding for thousands of people.

Since 2017, I have experimented with this teaching style. In the process, I've received similar positive feedback on the other Git tutorials I've produced.

Which brings us back to present day. It's one thing to make the occasional YouTube video, but I couldn't shake the feeling that if I truly invested in this teaching method, I could create by far the best Git learning resource on the internet. That means animated visuals for everything from the very basics to advanced techniques — all presented within a software platform that supports complementary learning features like courses/modules/lessons, search, interactive graphics, etc. How could this not vastly improve the way people learn Git? This realization ultimately led to the creation of LearnGit.io.

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Let's talk about gear

Since video is at the heart of the LearnGit.io project, let's talk about gear. Over my 5 years making videos for YouTube (longer if you count my high school AV club days), I've become comfortable with a set of tools I like:

My camera is a Canon M50 Mark II paired with a Sigma 16mm f1.4 lens. I'm not really a camera guy, so I bought the camera/lens that would get me the best picture quality straight out of the camera. My microphone is a Rhode Video Mic Pro. For lighting, I typically get away with natural light and a small Aputure MC; however, since moving into the new office, the larger Aputure Amaran 60d is my primary key light.

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Software

Hardware is nothing without the software to pull it all together. I use macOS's built-in utility, QuickTime, for screen recording. I edit the videos and create animations with Final Cut Pro. All my graphics are designed with a Mac app called Sketch. On occasion, I will use OBS to record both my screen and face at the same time before sending the video into Final Cut. Perhaps in the future, I'll go more in-depth about the animation process... but for now, I'd prefer to keep my secret sauce under wraps ;)