The tools, libraries, frameworks and vendors I use day-to-day.

Everyone has a different approach to things. In case you were curious, here's my battle-tested collection of gadgets, software and suppliers that I trust to help me get things done.

Primary Workstation

  • Gigabyte X570 GAMING X-based Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop

    Having shuttled back and forth between OSX, Linux and Windows, I'm currently using Windows 11 as my primary OS (since 12 September 2024). And given that I mainly work from home, spending more on a powerful desktop made sense!

  • LG UltraGear 32GN600 32' QHD 2560 x 1440 Gaming Monitor

    My happiest accidental purchase. I bought this monitor mainly for the refresh rate, and didn't notice the screen size until after the box was delivered. The extra screen real estate won me over pretty quickly though.

  • Logitech MX Keys Keyboard

    The single best keyboard I've ever used, having run the gamut from membrane to mechanical and back again. The short travel time, rounded keys, backlight and long battery life all add up to the best typing experience to date.

  • Razer Deathadder Essential Mouse

    The only mouse I've found that fits my hand comfortably for long hours of use. Premium gaming peripherals tend to be built to a better standard than the average business peripherals (lord knows why), and I've been a firm fan of these mice for years.

  • Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam

    Easily the best value-for-money webcam out there: 1920p at 60fps with decent-enough lighting and white balance control built in, this is the daily driver I've been using for video calls since 2019. I did briefly try upgrading to a Nikon Z01 as the webcam, but couldn't beat the setup for simplicity.

  • Samson Meter Mic USB Studio Microphone

    I became a fan of USB condenser microphones ever since buying my first Samson C01U Pro. My day-to-day calls are now run via their Meteor microphone, which provides decent sound quality, and sits neatly beneath my monitor.

  • Ergotherapy NetOne Highback Chair

    The first major purchase I made after going freelance in 2018 was to upgrade my chair. I ordered my first NetOne Highback from ergotherapy.co.za and I've never looked back.

Development tools

  • JetBrains PhpStorm

    My go-to for developing pretty much anything other than simple shell scripts. The monthly cost is well worth it for the excellent search/indexing features, all the common-sense built-in tools, and the reliability.

  • JetBrains DataGrip

    A solid chunk of my work involves complex analytics, and DataGrip was just a natural choice after getting PhpStorm. Would definitely recommend in team-based, enterprise-type analytics settings!

  • Visual Studio Code

    VSCode comes in really handy for remote editing (the Remote extension UX is second to none), and it's a fast-booting text editor handy for quick scripts. I've written more DevOps-related code in VSCode than anything else.

  • Docker

    Easily one of my favorite tools - used as a daily driver for my local development environment, containerizing projects for scalable deployment, and running once-off databases, tools and utilities with easy cleanup. Should be a standard.

  • Claude 3.5 Sonnet

    I've tried a bunch of LLMs since the launch of ChatGPT, and have landed on Claude as my day-to-day go-to: The web UI was a step up from ChatGPT, the Projects feature is nice, and I use it directly in PHPStorm via the Continue plugin.

Infrastructure

  • Tailscale

    Tailscale is by far the easiest way to build a secure network between all your devices. My desktop, laptops, phones and servers all operate over a private Wireguard network, which means I'll never need to expose an SSH port to the internet again - and that's a big relief!

  • Hetzner

    Hetzner Cloud is impossible to beat on a price-to-value ratio: Servers start at 3 EUR/month and can scale up incredibly far, the user interface is totally no-nonsense, you get a ton of included bandwidth for every machine, and their API is fully-featured. They host everything I build.

  • Cloudflare

    In many ways, Cloudflare is what the internet should have been. Everything I host is protected by Cloudflare in one way or another, and I'm a huge fan of Cloudflare Tunnels as a product, which has greatly simplified the process of safely exposing applications to the web.

Design

  • Excalidraw

    Excalidraw is a fantastic online whiteboarding tool, with all the basic shapes and connectors you need for quick process diagrams. I use it on a near-daily basis to visualize business processes and system designs - and am continually impressed that it's (still) a completely free tool. Wouldn't leave home without it!

  • Balsamiq Cloud

    The majority of my workflow goes straight from low-fi sketch-like mockups to functioning code. Of all the tools I've tried, Balsamiq nails it with the ease of use, lightweight prototyping features, and a visual aesthetic that screams "whiteboard".

Productivity

  • OBS Studio

    The defacto standard for screen recording and streaming, I regularly use OBS to record screencasts and walkthroughs of features. The simplicity and speed can't be beat, especially at the price tag!

  • Spotify

    I count music as part of my personal productivity stack, with themes ranging from ambient (for creative-thought work), to trance (for execution-mode work), to rap (for difficult days). I'd be half as effective without it.

  • Apple Notes

    Turns out to be the only personal database-slash-task manager-slash-idea repository you really need. 95%+ of all my day-to-day planning takes place in a single note named "☀️ Today".

  • Flameshot

    Since switching to Ubuntu 22.04 as my primary desktop OS, Flameshot has become my weapon of choice for taking annotated screenshots. Has all the core functionality you need, and is really easy to use.