Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.

Everything on this list has given me a lot of value - and maybe even some joy! I hope you find it useful too.

Workstation

  • 16” MacBook Pro, M1 Max, 32GB RAM (2021)

    This is my work laptop and I love it. Silent, fast, and the battery life is incredible. The large bright screen makes it invaluable for those sunny patio dev sessions. My personal laptop is a an M1 Air.

  • HP z420, 8 core Xeon E5-2670, 64GB RAM, GTX 1060

    This is from a previous life. I use the Macbooks for most things, but I still love my desktop as a home server and for light ML loads. You can put these together for about 300$ (minus graphics) and they are a great.

  • Samsung 32" UR59C Curved 4K UHD Monitor

    Speaking of value, 4k monitor for $250 CAD - used. What a deal. Seriously, use Facebook marketplace, you'll be surprised. I also doubted the utility of a curved monitor, but it's actually really nice.

  • Apple Magic Mouse & Keyboard

    Something about all the gestures makes me feel like a wizard with special powers. The simpleness of the keyboard is also a joy to use. In another life I would have been a wizard.

  • Herman Miller Sayl Chair

    I sit on this every day. My back doesn't hurt. It's comfortable, ergonomic, and I guess it's got a cool brand name. I'm not sure what else to say about it.

Development tools

  • VSCode

    Settings sync is amazing - it makes picking up where I left off on projects across my devices buttery smooth. Speaking of, Remote SSH has been invaluable when working on legacy stacks (yes I've declared x86 legacy now).

  • Operator Mono w/ Ligratures

    Yes, I'm calling a font a tool. I love the look of this font, and the ligatures make it even better. I use it in VSCode and my terminal.

  • Warp

    It's new and shiny. I like what they're doing and I'm excited to see where it goes. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it long term, but I'm enjoying it for now.

  • DBeaver

    Great software for working with databases. FOSS and works with everything. Must have for your toolbox.

  • Hack Stack

    NextJS on Vercel, TailwindCSS, Supabase for backend + auth, Visily.ai for UX wireframing, Notion for project kanban and wiki. This is probably the fastest stack I've come cross for going from idea to product. It feels like magic.

Design

  • Visily.ai

    Rapid wireframing and prototyping. I've used Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD in the past, but Visily is the fastest and easiest to use.

  • Lucidchart

    For flowcharting and diagramming. Great for high level architecture diagrams that require a bit more work than what I can get from mermaid.

Productivity

  • Notion

    This is my brain's hard drive. I have pages for my goals, my habits, my reading kanban, and my projects. My partner and I use it as a home dashboard.

  • Obsidian

    If Notion is my brain's hard drive, Obsidian is my brain's RAM. I use it as a scratchpad for my day, and I love the way it works with markdown and syncs across my iOS devices. Meeting notes, research, and random thoughts all live here.

  • YNAB

    I needed a budget. Now I have a budget.

  • CPAP

    Productivity is a byproduct of health. I've been using a CPAP for years and it's been a game changer. I've lost 60 lbs, my short term memory is sharper than ever before, and I feel... awake? I've brought it backpacking all over Europe with me, I bring it camping, and even to music festivals! I'm not sure how I lived without it.