14-Day GitHub Engineering Challenge

14 days · 2 labs · 4 knowledge checks · for engineers who know git and want to run github like a platform: pull requests, review, ownership, the cli, automation and security.

Tick each day as you finish it. Progress is stored in this browser and shown onMy Academy.

1. Day 1 What a pull request is

   State what a pull request stores and why checks attach to commits.

   • Understand GitHub Pull Requests Explained: A Complete Engineering Guide
   • Test yourself Knowledge check at the end of the lesson

   Then Open any pull request you can see and find its base, head and merge base.

2. Day 2 Reviewing well

   Review a change for what it does, not what it looks like.

   • Understand GitHub Pull Request Reviews: Mechanics and Practice

   Then Review one real pull request using the free PR review checklist.

3. Day 3 Pull request practice

   Know what makes a pull request easy to review — size, description, verification steps.

   • Understand Pull Request Best Practices: Size, Scope and Review Velocity

   Then Rewrite the description of your last pull request with a "how to verify" section.

4. Day 4 Templates

   Write a pull request template that speeds up the reviewer, not slows the author.

   • Understand Pull Request Templates: Structure Without Bureaucracy

   Then Draft a template under fifteen lines for a repository you work in.

5. Day 5 CODEOWNERS

   Predict routing from the file alone; know why the last match wins.

   • Understand CODEOWNERS: Mapping Repository Paths to Owners
   • Test yourself Knowledge check at the end of the lesson
   • Practice Lab: Configure CODEOWNERS and Predict the Routing

   Then Do the lab and verify the prediction on GitHub.

6. Day 6 Required reviews

   Turn a review request into a merge requirement.

   • Understand Required Reviews on GitHub: Enforcing Approval Before Merge

   Then Check which of your repositories require review and which only request it.

7. Day 7 Branch protection

   Know which single setting has the highest value on the default branch.

   • Understand GitHub Branch Protection: Rules That Guard a Branch
   • Test yourself Knowledge check at the end of the lesson

   Then Confirm force pushes to main are blocked somewhere you have access.

8. Day 8 Rulesets

   Express policy as layered, admin-enforceable rules.

   • Understand GitHub Repository Rulesets: Policy as Layered Rules

   Then Compare a ruleset with a classic branch protection rule on the same branch.

9. Day 9 The GitHub CLI

   Manage repositories and pull requests from the terminal.

   • Understand gh pr: The Pull Request Lifecycle from the Terminal

   Then Check out a pull request with `gh pr checkout` and view its checks with `gh pr checks`.

10. Day 10 gh api

    Reach any endpoint from the terminal, with pagination handled.

    • Understand gh api: The Full GitHub API from the Command Line
    • Test yourself Knowledge check at the end of the lesson

    Then List every open pull request across a repository with `--paginate --jq`.

11. Day 11 Authentication choices

    Choose the right credential — fine-grained token, App, or the Actions token.

    • Understand GitHub API Authentication: Choosing the Right Credential

    Then Find one classic token in use somewhere and note what a fine-grained replacement would need.

12. Day 12 Least-privilege access

    Design who should have what: roles, teams, outside collaborators, Apps.

    • Understand Least-Privilege GitHub Access

    Then Run the free repository health checklist on one repository.

13. Day 13 Merge queues

    Know when up-to-date-before-merge stops scaling and a queue starts.

    • Understand GitHub Merge Queues: How They Work and When You Need One

    Then Decide, for your team size, which of the two you need.

14. Day 14 Design the workflow

    Make the five decisions — template, checks, review policy, merge method, rules — as one decision, and test it.

    • Understand Pull Request Best Practices: Size, Scope and Review Velocity
    • Practice Lab: Design a Pull Request Workflow

    Then Finish the lab. Then take the "Managing repositories" learning path for what the challenge skipped.