In the era where GitHub Copilot uses Artificial Intelligence to auto-generate code in the editor, the assessment strategy the higher educational institutions would choose for a programming module matters. Key areas to assess for programming (in Java) are syntax and language fundamentals, problem-solving skills, understanding of object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts, and debugging skills. The final assessment for the subject in most institutions assesses language proficiency and Object-Oriented Programming skills through a variety of coding questions. Some of the institutions use a final exam and some use only a final Portfolio of Evidence (PoE) as part of the final summative assessment. A Portfolio of Evidence sets each student apart from other candidates and is later useful to showcase it to potential employers. In this paper, we look at PoE as the way forward as an assessment strategy for a programming subject in the HEI in South Africa. This is a qualitative study, so online focus group interviews were conducted with first-year programming students who completed PoE at the Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South Africa, to understand the student experiences in using PoE style assessment and submission via GitHub. Inductive thematic analysis is used for data analysis, and themes are identified. The final PoE was submitted by the students via the GitHub repository in the institution as part of the final assessment strategy. They enhanced their coding skills, and language proficiency, more in-depth understanding of the concepts, and improved GitHub skills as part of this final submission. In effect, submission of PoE through GitHub has a lot of potential—for easy marking for the examiners—and it upskills the students with the collaborative environment and trains them to be fit for the software industry jobs.