My Tools of Trade – 2023 Edition

2023 started with a change in sector, I am now a tech lead for Beyonic a product of MFS Africa, with a change of tech stack to Python, Angular, Microservices. Outside work I dabble in PHP development with Laravel and I am in love with TailwindCSS. I am looking to get further into data analytics with R/PowerBI in 2023

Note – This was inspired by Wes Bos, who I am huge fan of! This list will be a living document that I will update whenever anything changes!

The previous editions are:

2023 Workspace Setup

My current hardware is focused on reducing clutter by reducing the number of accessories that I use, while improving my productivity and working in a more healthy manner.

Hardware

My primary machine is a 13″ 2022 M2 based Macbook Pro with 16GB RAM and 1TB HDD covered with a brown colored case for scratch protection. I have to say that I am in love with this tiny machine, getting used to a small screen after years with a 15″ however the all day battery and no fans is a big plus

With only 2 USB-C ports, thankfully I had purchased a Caldigit TS4 hub, which enables me to have a single Thunderbolt 4 cable from my laptop into the hub, with all of 18 ports for all my needs.

I switched to a Logitech MX Vertical mouse, for improving my erogonomics, and I totally love it replacing the MX Master 3 that I had before with the same 70 day charge. I have kept the Gimars Large Smooth Superfine Fibre Memory Foam Ergonomic Mouse Pad Wrist Rest Support . I am using RGB backlit Keychron K3 with Gaeton brown switches (which are very quiet)

My default screen is a Lenovo G34w-10 34-Inch WQHD Curved Gaming Monitor an ultra-wide which is now my primary monitori, gives me the equivalent of 2 full screens side-by-side with a VIVO 32 inch Desk Converter, Height Adjustable Riser, Sit to Stand Dual Monitor and Laptop Workstation with Wide Keyboard Tray which provides me with a standing desk option, helps break the monotony of sitting all day

I maintain my laptop in clam-shell use using JARLINK Vertical Laptop Stand to help save space on my desk. My day-to-day audio accessory is a Skull Candy wired heaphones, as my Samsung Galaxy Buds+ failed to live up to the promise, so I am still experimenting in this area

One of the most important tools anyone who sits for long is the chair they use, as they spend majority of their time in it. I cannot find the make and model of the one that I use photos below, however pairing with Lifelong Wheels was the best decision I ever made

Power supply is erratic and is disruptive, my current hack is to use an inverter and a 200mAH dry powder battery which can support my Internet router, TV for about 8 hours of use, as well as about 5 charges from from 10% to full for my laptop which is about 3-4 days of working. The long term plan is to have a copy of this backup for my workstation

Software

  1. As a software developer my primary tool is an IDE, the Jetbrains suite of IDES
    • Pycharm is now my primary IDE
    • Webstorm for front end development
    • Data Grip for database management (MySQL and PostgreSQL)
    • Fleet for lightweight editing
    • Looking to Aqua for QA related tasks
  2. iTerm2 as my Terminal despite MacOS default shell changes, I have maintained bash as my default shell
  3. HomeBrew for package management, my primary installtion tool for both command line and gui tools
  4. Parallels for running Windows virtual machines when needed
  5. Firefox for all browsing needs and Firefox Developer Edition for web development – I dumped Google Chrome, only use it when I meet a service that does not work on Firefox
  6. Cloud storage – OneDrive for office work, Dropbox for personal use with Google Drive for backup (currently subscribing for 200GB plan)
  7. Communication and collaboration tools are Office 365, Microsoft Teams and Slack – its amazing the simplicity of fewer tools

Utilities

I have added this section for the tools that simplify a lot of my day-to-day activities, they are tiny tools in the Unix style with a big impact so I figured I should highlight them separately

  1. Alfred for opening apps (not yet grown to the worflow stage) so using the free version
  2. Caffeine for keeping the laptop awake when I need to especially during long processes
  3. Magnet for sizing different screens when in use
  4. RDM for changing resolutions as I take screenshots for documentation
  5. Typora for Markdown editing
  6. Clippy for managing my clipboard

Do let me know if you found this useful and please share how you are setup

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