My entire project crashed because I didn't know about version control
I was working on a final project for a class in Denver and accidentally deleted a key file, losing two days of work. Has anyone else had a similar disaster and what tool did you switch to after that?
Version control is a great tool, but calling it the only fix for this kind of problem is a bit off. The real issue was having no backup at all (which is a separate habit to learn). You could have just made a copy of your project folder each day and been fine. Git is powerful, but it adds a learning curve when you're already stressed about a deadline. A simple manual backup would have saved your work just as well in that moment.
That "separate habit to learn" bit is the whole problem. People treat the simple, boring fix like it's not a real solution compared to the fancy tool. So they learn the fancy tool badly under pressure instead of just making a copy, which would have worked fine.