--- title: My Git Reflog Exposed Every “Temporary” Decision I Made... description: A software engineer reflects on what their git reflog revealed about their growth and professional habits. Key lessons include: CI/CD pipelines rarely work on... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/my-git-reflog-exposed-every-temporary-decision-i-made-as-a-software-engineer-qwfgzotc3 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: My Git Reflog Exposed Every “Temporary” Decision I Made as a Software Engineer | daily.dev og:description: A software engineer reflects on what their git reflog revealed about their growth and professional habits. Key lessons include: CI/CD pipelines rarely work on... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/my-git-reflog-exposed-every-temporary-decision-i-made-as-a-software-engineer-qwfgzotc3 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/QWFgZOtC3.png og:image:alt: My Git Reflog Exposed Every “Temporary” Decision I Made as a Software Engineer og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # My Git Reflog Exposed Every “Temporary” Decision I Made as a Software Engineer **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A software engineer reflects on what their git reflog revealed about their growth and professional habits. Key lessons include: CI/CD pipelines rarely work on the first try and require significant debugging; branching strategies exist to reduce risk, not add complexity; commit messages evolved from vague ('Fix', 'Update') to descriptive explanations of why changes were made; and git reflog captures far more than commits — it records resets, rebases, cherry-picks, and branch switches. The broader takeaway is that professional software development involves much more than writing features, and your git history is an honest record of how you actually work. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What does git reflog show that git log does not? Git reflog records actions beyond regular commit history, including branch switches, resets, cherry-picks, merges, pulls, rebases, and recoverable mistakes. Unlike git log, which shows the commit history of a branch, reflog tracks the movements of HEAD over time, making it useful for recovering lost work and reviewing how a repository was actually used. _Developers troubleshooting lost commits can find deeper git workflow discussions curated on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Understanding Git Without Memorizing Commands](https://daily.dev/posts/understanding-git-without-memorizing-commands-ws08nasbq) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Let the commits tell the story](https://daily.dev/posts/let-the-commits-tell-the-story-7elnwwldo) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Git UNDO : How to Rewrite Git History with Confidence](https://daily.dev/posts/git-undo-how-to-rewrite-git-history-with-confidence-p2tuql4z7) · Towards Data Science · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [21 Git Commands for Software Engineers](https://daily.dev/posts/21-git-commands-for-software-engineers-1vwhnxocm) · System Design Newsletter · 127 upvotes · 6 comments --- Tags: [#cicd](https://daily.dev/tags/cicd), [#git](https://daily.dev/tags/git), [#version-control](https://daily.dev/tags/version-control) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/my-git-reflog-exposed-every-temporary-decision-i-made-as-a-software-engineer-qwfgzotc3) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"My Git Reflog Exposed Every “Temporary” Decision I Made as a Software Engineer","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-git-reflog-exposed-every-temporary-decision-i-made-as-a-software-engineer-qwfgzotc3","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-git-reflog-exposed-every-temporary-decision-i-made-as-a-software-engineer-qwfgzotc3"},"datePublished":"2026-07-24T11:21:43.565Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T19:41:10.924Z","description":"A software engineer reflects on what their git reflog revealed about their growth and professional habits. Key lessons include: CI/CD pipelines rarely work on...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5d0e70edd1345ac2acd6dcd5d11b21c2?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5d0e70edd1345ac2acd6dcd5d11b21c2?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Medium","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Medium","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/medium","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-git-reflog-exposed-every-temporary-decision-i-made-as-a-software-engineer-qwfgzotc3","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"cicd,git,version-control","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Medium","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"My Git Reflog Exposed Every “Temporary” Decision I Made as a Software Engineer"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-git-reflog-exposed-every-temporary-decision-i-made-as-a-software-engineer-qwfgzotc3#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What does git reflog show that git log does not?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Git reflog records actions beyond regular commit history, including branch switches, resets, cherry-picks, merges, pulls, rebases, and recoverable mistakes. Unlike git log, which shows the commit history of a branch, reflog tracks the movements of HEAD over time, making it useful for recovering lost work and reviewing how a repository was actually used. Developers troubleshooting lost commits can find deeper git workflow discussions curated on daily.dev."}}]} ```