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, M1 Max, 64GB RAM (2021)

    I was using an Intel-based 16” MacBook Pro prior to this and the difference is night and day. I’ve never heard the fans turn on a single time, even under the incredibly heavy loads I put it through with our various launch simulations. The price of this was a bit of a shock. I’m not sure I would spend this much on a laptop again, but I’m glad I did. It's usually hooked on two 32 4K monitors. A basic electronic QWERTY mechanical keyboard and an old fashioned USB mouse. An IKEA standing desk and a standard office chair.

Development tools

  • vim/neovim/Zed

    I love vim/neovim. I've been using it for years and I'm still learning new things about it. However lately I have been using Zed more and more. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because i find myself tinkering with the settings on neovim instead of developing. Of course I use the vim plugin for Zed. I'm not sure if I'll ever go back to using vim/neovim exclusively.

  • iTerm2

    There was a reason I moved from the Terminal.app to iTerm2 but I cannot remember why. I use it for all my terminal needs, which is plenty as the terminal tab on Zed gets ignored by me mostly. I use the Solarized Dark theme and my shell is zsh.

  • git

    I use git for everything. I use it for my personal projects and my work projects. The servies I use on top of that are mostlhy GitHub and a bit of GitLab.

Design

  • Figma

    I only started using Figma a few months ago but I'm already hooked. I use it for all my design needs. I'm not a designer by any means but I find it easy to use and I can get my ideas down quickly.

Productivity

  • Alfred

    It’s not the newest kid on the block but it’s still the fastest. Though I am finding myself using spotlight more and more for apps. I currently use Alfred in conjunction with Keyboard Maestro to automate a lot of my workflows and seacrching on Dash and DuckDuckGo.

  • Notion

    I basically use it as a note taking system instead of trying to keep things in text files and organising by topics has been super powerful for me.

  • Todoist

    I use Todoist for all my personal and work tasks. I have a few projects setup and I use the labels to organise them. I have a few filters setup to show me what I need to do today, this week, and what I have to do for work. I use the CLI to add tasks and have gotten into the habit of adding tasks as soon as I think of them. Works for me.

  • Dash

    Great tool for looking up programming questions while protecting my workflow.

  • Focus

    Simple tool for blocking distracting websites when I need to just do the work and get some momentum going.

  • Spotify

    When it comes to music it has to be Spotify.