Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.
I get asked a lot about the things I use to build software, stay productive, or buy to fool myself into thinking I’m being productive when I’m really just procrastinating. Here’s a big list of all of my favorite stuff.
Workstation
16” MacBook Pro, Intel Core i9, 32GB RAM (2019)
M1 Macbooks are great but I'm sticking to my good old Intel Mac which still handles heavy workloads without a hitch.
4k 32” LG UltraFine Display Ergo
Bigger the display, bigger the motivation to use it to read your code 😆 - also the the ergonomic stand that comes with this model 🤌
Keychron K4 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard
Mechanical Keyboards are ❤️ and the satisfying clicks of the normal profile Keychron keyboard is the reason I code most of the time. Fun-fact, I learnt typing with a traditional type-writer which I badly miss now.
Logitech MX Master 3
As a power user of VSCode, tmux & the tiles app in the Mac, I rarely need to click stuff on the screen. But when I do, I do it with the most erogonomic MX Master 3.
Monarch Elevate: Height Adjustable Table
Because, sitting too much while you are thinking about what to name that variable is bad for your health. Always switch between sitting & standing every 1 hour & 15 mins respectively.
Senheisser HD 458BT headphones
Most trusted headphones for work - taking video calls, watching egghead lessons, listening to podcasts while coding - can't live without this one.
Development tools
VSCodium
A completely open-source variant of the VSCode with its own marketplace that supports all my vital extensions & a great logo.
Oh My Zsh!
I can't use my mac terminal without installing Oh My Zsh & setting up my favorite theme. Who wants to cd into a directory, when you can just type the directory name directly!
tmux
With large screens comes no reason to open multiple tabs in your terminal - just keep the processes running across the tmux profiles.
Design
Figma
They say figma is a great design tool, but I use it to build flow charts & stick-figure prototypes of my weekend projects. I love it & I can't think of using another tool to do this.
Excalidraw
Professional quality scribbling & a very funny logo maker. I'd say this is my preferred design tool.
Productivity
Tiles
By removing the use of mouse to resize & move windows across the screen, I'm 2x more efficient but also 2x less efficient by wasting time deciding which window to place in which section of the screen.
Notion
Pretty much all my ideas, projects, plans & thoughts about my digital life are recorded in the generous free tier provided the Notion app.
Spark
Keeping my inbox clean by only reading the messages filtered by this great email app.
Cron
They say it's an extremely powerful tool for managing calendars, but I use it because it's event reminders are so much better than the native mac calendar app.
Simplenote
Replacing the need for paper in my life. Works across all my devices - take a quick note whenever you want & forget about it forever.