Learning how to use version control is not such a hard enough task that it will honestly "prevent" you from making progress on programming. This is kind of like

Learning how to use version control is not such a hard enough task that it will honestly "prevent" you from making progress on programming. This is kind of like asking whether you should figure out how to get car insurance, or not get distracted by that and focus "on the driving" instead. Its not that difficult, and you will regret it. On the other hand, I suppose learning to use version control the hard way is arguably one of the most important milestones in a programmer's career. Don't get me wrong, you can become a master at certain VC systems and do all sorts of neato stuff with them, but you should focus on getting the bare minimum down (enough to just replicate what you are already doing on dropbox, which should take you a few hours max), and then get back to programming. You will learn the rest along the way. At some point you will say "oh man, I can't believe x happened", or "I really wish I could look at my code this way", you'll ask someone for help, and since you were using a version control system all along, you will be able to do it. Think of it more like getting a proper text editor to replace notepad rather than "learning" something brand new.