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 Pro, 32GB RAM (2021)

    I have tried many different computers, my last computer was a Lenovo P1. A wonderful machine that was used to write my master thesis, used to solve issues in my part time job. And used to develop many of the projects seen on the projects page. Moving on to a new processor architecture however is a huge step up for overall comfort. I’ve never heard the fans turn on a single time, even under the incredibly heavy loads I have put it through. Maybe this will change in the future, if so, I'll update this post.

  • Moonlander Mk. II Keyboard

    The moonlander is a great procastination tool and a great keyboard. Setting it up takes time, but the resulting layouts you get are tailored to your needs. It also make a huge difference in day to day use for my shoulders and wrists. That being said, it's expensive and slightly too loud for the office.

  • Apple Magic Trackpad

    Something about all the gestures makes me feel like a wizard with special powers. I really like feeling like a wizard with special powers. It also makes my wrist hurt like a bitch, so maybe I am not man enough to wield these magical powers.

  • Logitech MX Master 3

    Just the best productivity mouse out there, objectively, seen from my subjective viewpoint.

Development tools

  • VS Code

    Visual studio code might not be the best at many things, everyone has their pet pieves. That being said, VS Code just handles everything good enough. Making it the most valuable tool I currently use in my daily frontend development.

  • kitty

    I’m honestly not even sure what features I get with this that aren’t just part of the macOS Terminal but it’s what I use.

  • Emacs

    With emacs you can do anything, it is by far the best LaTeX editor (in my opinion), also org-mode is an experience in and of itself. There are so many features and things you can add to make it do what you want it's amazing. That being said, this piece of software will probably eat up so much of your time that you should consider not trying it. If you know, you know.

Design

  • Figma

    Although I feel like some features are missing still (It just got the feature of adding borders, or strokes), its a great tool for prototyping and designing wireframes and even more advanced designs.

  • Affinity Designer

    I have many issues with affinity designer such as their shape builder being a lot harder to use compared to the same tool in Adobe Illustrator. That being said, affinity covers all the other aspects I've used in Illustrator at a cheaper price.

  • Affinity Photo

    I must say that in this case I'd much rather use photoshop. I am able to reach the same result in both softwares, but I dont want to pay for the photoshop license as it currently is too expensive for the little time I spend editing pictures these days. Affinity photo covers all the basics, but I am considering pixelmator Pro instead for the future as I don't feel productive while using affinity.

Productivity

  • Obsidian

    I am using obsidian for my notes, previously I used emacs for everything due to org-mode being amazing. But I kept finding emacs a time sink doing micro optimizations, so to keep productive I've moved notes to Obsidian instead, syncing my notes with github for backup.