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

  • Custom Desktop, Arch Linux, i7-9700k, Radeon RX 480, 32GB RAM

    I built this computer on my 30th birthday for myself. It taught me tremendously about how my favorite tool works and how to troubleshoot it very well. I love my rig!

  • Samsung 49” Odyssey G9

    This is a monster of a monitor and one of the best purchases I've made. It is an ultra-wide monitor that is curved to match the curve of the human eyes for maximum immersion and minimal eye strain. It is the size of exactly two 27” monitors.

  • Royal Kludge RK61

    This 60% mechanical-keyboard with brown switches is my favorite. It's ultra-compact design allow plenty of space for my mouse when working on design or gaming.

  • Logitech G305

    One of the fastest and most efficient wireless gaming mice in the market. You can adjust the optical sensor sensitivity from 200 to 12,000 DPI for any of your needs.

  • 48” Dual-Motor Height Adjustable Standing Desk

    Sitting behind your desk all day is bad for your health and experts suggest people stand at their workstations for about 15-30 minutes an hour. This desk helps me achieve that by adjusting to my eye level when I stand up.

  • 13” MacBook Pro, M2, 8GB RAM (2022)

    This is my go-to laptop for when I am mobile and need to get some work done. Prior to this I had an Intel-based 17” Dell and the difference is night and day. And don't get me started with the mouse track's gestures! lol

Development tools

  • VS Codium

    I am big on privacy from big-tech and this is why I rely on this IDE. It is the open-source version of VS Code, but removing all of the creepy telemetry that Microsoft enables by default.

  • Alacritty

    This is my go-to terminal when programming on my desktop. It is written in Rust and is highly customizable.

  • Docker

    With so many frameworks, languages, and architectures out there, this solution is a must for this current age in app development. This helps take out a lot of the complexity in deploying a modern web app.

Design

  • Adobe Creative Cloud

    I've tried many image-manipulation techonologies in the past, but Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier Pro and Adobe Stock are a must for the best visual arts. There is no way around the efficiencies and quality that this suite of programs provide.

  • Canva

    Honestly, if you are not using this, you are sleeping on a great solution. This drag-and-drop solution comes in handy when I don't have access to Adobe's Creative Cloud. Many templates to choose from to inspire your next design.

  • Figma

    I use Figma as a design tool when working on the front-end. It is also very good as a general whiteboard when collaborating with others.