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

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

    I am using a 14” MacBook Pro. I previously used a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu Linux. I switched to the MacBook Pro because I wanted to have a more consistent experience with my team and I wanted to be able to run a local dev environment matches the majority of other developers.

  • Keychron K10 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard

    Keychron K10 Wireless mechanical keyboard has included keycaps for both Windows and macOS, and users can hotswap every switch in seconds with the hot-swappable version.

Development tools & frameworks

  • VS Code

    I’ve tried to switch to other editors but I always come back to VS Code. It’s just too good.

  • Tailwind CSS

    Tailwind is the best CSS framework I’ve ever used. It’s the only one that doesn’t get in my way.

  • BlueprintJS

    I use BlueprintJS for those projects where I need a UI but don’t want to spend a lot of time on it. Typically a back-office use case.

  • NextJS

    I use NextJS for all of my new front-end projects. It’s the best framework I’ve found for building user interfaces.

  • NestJS

    I use NestJS for many of my new back-end projects. It’s the best Node.js framework I’ve found.

  • FastAPI

    FastAPI is the best Python Restful API web framework I’ve found. It’s fast, simple, and easy to use.

  • Docker

    I use Docker for all of my new back-end projects. It’s the best way I’ve found to manage dependencies and deployment.

Design

  • LucidChart

    LucidChart is the best tool I’ve found for creating diagrams. I mostly use it for architecture diagrams and flow charts.

  • Balsamiq

    I’ve been using Balsamiq since it was a desktop app. It’s the best tool I’ve found for quickly mocking up UIs.

  • Figma

    I use Figma for high-fidelity mockups and for creating design systems.

Productivity

  • Linear

    Linear is the best issue tracker I’ve ever used. It’s fast, simple, and the keyboard shortcuts are great.