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, M3 Max, 36GB RAM (2023)

    I was using an Intel-based 16” MacBook Pro prior to this and the difference is night and day. I’ve never heard the fans turn on a single time, even under the incredibly heavy loads I put it through with our various launch simulations.

  • 49” Samsung Oddyssey Neo G9

    The only display on the market if you want something HiDPI and bigger than 27”. When you’re working at planetary scale, every pixel you can get counts.

  • Corsair K16 Ultimate

    They don’t make keyboards the way they used to. I buy these any time I see them go up for sale and keep them in storage in case I need parts or need to retire my main.

Development tools

  • JetBrains IDEs

    I mostly use JetBrains Rider, RustRover, and a few select others to work.

  • Visual Studio Code

    My go-to editor for quick edits and adjustments.

  • Unity

    We heavily rely on Unity for game development and creation.

Design

  • Figma

    We started using Figma as just a design tool but now it’s become our virtual whiteboard for the entire company. Never would have expected the collaboration features to be the real hook.

Productivity

  • Alfred

    It’s not the newest kid on the block but it’s still the fastest. The Sublime Text of the application launcher world.

  • Reflect

    Using a daily notes system instead of trying to keep things organized by topics has been super powerful for me. And with Reflect, it’s still easy for me to keep all of that stuff discoverable by topic even though all of my writing happens in the daily note.

  • SavvyCal

    Great tool for scheduling meetings while protecting my calendar and making sure I still have lots of time for deep work during the week.

  • Focus

    Simple tool for blocking distracting websites when I need to just do the work and get some momentum going.