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

I often get asked what I use to build software, stay productive, or buy to fool myself into thinking I’m being productive when procrastinating. So here’s an extensive list of all of my favorite stuff.

Workstation

  • MacBook Pro 16” M2 Max 32GB

    My current developer machine. I upgraded from an 8GB M1 MacMini due to the Frontend work I have been doing lately. Figma + IDE + Chrome was chewing through the ram and frequently created bottlenecks in my workflow.

  • Apple Studio Display (Nano Texture Glass) x2

    This display replaced my aging Thunderbolt display. I think the nano-texture glass and the adjustable stand are both worthy upgrades. I enjoy this monitor so much I recently added a second one to my setup.

  • Apple Magic Trackpad

    I rely on gestures to get around my computer, and the Magic Trackpad helps make having a single monitor bearable by enabling me to swipe back and forth between virtual desktops quickly.

  • Apple Magic Keyboard

    A developer without a mechanical keyboard? I know, it’s crazy. Standard issue Apple Keyboard.

Productivity

  • Notion

    I use Notion for everything related to research and documentation.

  • Paper Notebook

    I go through about four notebooks per year. I love that it doesn't have wifi, push notifications, or social media. In our world's constant battle for focus and attention, it is a safe haven for concentration. I use it to write out my goals and accomplishments for the day. I also track habits in it, like drinking water or exercising.

  • Montblanc Fountain Pen (Circa 1990)

    My dad always carried a fancy pen when I was young, and I always thought it was fantastic. So my wife got me one just like my dad used to have as a gift. It is my favorite pen, and I use it for everything.

  • Focus

    Apple's Focus tool to put my phone on Do Not Disturb. I use it to get work done. I recently let it start customizing my contact list, email accounts, and home screens for different modes so I don't get distracted by email or calendar invites when I am trying to engage in deep work or family time. I recommend a Personal Focus without any email or social media apps, a work focus with your email, and a Do Not Disturb focus to take a break from all outside distractions. Pager Duty has an emergency notification break-through feature integrated into iOS, so those of us with an on-call aspect to our jobs can still be systematically interrupted when a high-severity incident demands our attention

  • Apple Music Coding Playlist

    I find that when I am trying to code or other wise do some kind of “Deep Work” I cannot listen to music with lyrics. The Coding playlist on shuffle is a great way for me to get lost in my work and block out distractions.

  • Apple AirPod Pro Max

    Once Apple added a USB-C port to the AirPod Max I immediately purchased a pair. The noise canceling is an upgrade over my older Sony headphones and the seamless switching between my iPhone, iPad and Mac are a huge quality of life improvement over needing to swap bluetooth settings. Glad Apple finally updated these (Although they could have added the H2 chip...).

Development

  • Neovim

    I swapped over to Neovim after years of using vscode and intelliJ. The main drivers were the ability to fully customize my workflow and vim motions.

  • Ghostty

    My terminal of choice. It's GPU-accelerated, so everything feels instant

  • Tmux

    Used within Ghostty to manage multiple panes, windows and sessions without leaving the keyboard. Helps me quickly switch between multiple projects within a single Ghostty window.

Design

  • Figma

    I use Figma for rapid prototyping and design.

  • Miro

    I love the more structured feel of Miro over FigJam. One good thing that came out of the Pandemic was lots of options for real-time online white-boarding.

  • LucidChart

    ERDs, AWS Infrastructure, and Business Process Flows... Not super exciting, but I use LucidChart to generate them. However, three subscriptions are not ideal, so I want to eliminate this tool from my stack and consolidate it into Miro and Figma.