Software I Use as a Software Developer

and a living person

Being a software developer by day, and many nights, I am always trying out new software and interested in what I can use to be the most effective human. In particular I am always on the hunt for software that can help me become a better father, husband, professional, software developer, and lifter. The tools that I use change fairly frequently, but I try to keep the transaction costs of switching to a minimum. Unfortunately, this has led to a phrase I like to call Tool and Application Bloat (TAB)*. There are a few apps I could/should delete from my phone/iPad/computer because another app solves a specific problem just as well as the other, but I just have note started decluttering my virtual closet.

This post is structured by first looking at the tools I use every day, the tools I use every week, and the tools I use every month. This is not going to be super accurate because sometimes I use tools more often, sometimes I won't... but this my post, I can structure it the way I want! You will not be seeing any company specific tools, as they were tools given/chosen by FTI for developers to use.

One last note before digging in, this is not an exhausted list. Yes, I use things like Spotify, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc, but I just wanted to highlight a few that I use might spark interest in others.

Daily

• VS Code: I really enjoy using VS Code. I heavily use it for taking notes via markdown (actually how I interact with Obsidian and iCloud notes). It has great plugins for development, though I still like using NeoVim/NvChad as my primary IDE. I have a VS Code window open pretty much all the time at this point. I actually originally wrote this post in a VS Code markdown file!

• NeoVim: This has become my main IDE because of how much faster I can jump around my project keeping my fingers on my keyboard, minimize my mouse use, and stay inside of the terminal as much as possible, plus having the terminal inside NeoVim has been great. There are situations where I will use VS Code for development, such as a new project, heavy refactor, or a lot of find and replace tasks. I have really loved using the NvChad setup because it comes with a lot of built in shortcuts and plugins that would take me a lot of tweaking to get to a usable state. The only beef I have with NeoVim is as of writing this post, I still have not been able to copy from NeoVim and paste into another application...

• Obsidian: Note storage and editing on my iPhone and iPad. The best thing about this is that I can sync it with iCloud and access via my phone, iPad, and PC without paying for Obsidian vault.

• Trello: I love the kanban/drag and drop feel within Trello. This might be the longest running tool on this list. I use Trello for my to-do list and goal tracking. I have tried different solutions, but nothing has yet to dethrone the combination of simplicity and features of Trello.

• Nebo: Notebook replacement on my iPad. I like the feeling of taking hand written notes at times and this is a simple tool to get that feeling. I have this open on my iPad at all times for quickly jotting down notes and daily journal entries. I also use Nebo for drawing diagrams for software development or just general ideas.

• Done: Habit tracking, pretty strait forward.

• Windows Terminal: Used for all terminal based work, including NeoVim. Since I use Windows for everything at the moment, I use WSL heavily. I also really like the customization abilities within Windows Terminal. I now have a special background and unicorn theme.

• Glorify: daily devotional. I usually start every day with Glorify and its three devotional parts: Bible Verse, Devotional (deep dive), and meditation/breath/Walk with God.

• Browser: Edge for FTI laptop, Vivaldi for personal desktop, and Safari for iPhone and iPad. Though I really want to try Arc!

Weekly

• Discord: Sioux Falls developers community and chat.

• GitHub: For all my personal and side projects. I also store all my lessons learned from books here, so if you are interested, feel free to check them out. <insert link here>

• Evernote: I use to be a power user of Evernote, but due to the high pressure to switch to a paid plan from the app, slow load times, concerns over long term support, their special formatting, and increasingly bloated features, I have moved most of my notes to Obsidian.

• Liftbear: Used for tracking lift sets, weights, and reps. I came across this via Indie Hackers (https://www.indiehackers.com/products) and really liked it because it was pleasant to use and developed by a single person trying to make it as a solopreneur. Shout out to Sebastian Röhl (Liftbear).

Monthly

• Visual Studio: only if I have to for c# development. I really do not like to use Visual Studio... there is way to much going on and I am not a fan of c# development in general, so I only use this if I have to.

• Postgres / DBeaver: lately I have not had to work with databases both personally or professionally. I have worked with many databases and database tools over the years (MySQL, MongoDB, MS SQL, Studio 3T, SQL Workbench), but if I have to touch databases in my personal projects, I prefer Postgres as the database and DBeaver as the database tool.

* I spent to much time trying to come up with an acronym here...