Tools I use

These are the various tools I use that add value to me and that I would recommend to anyone. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter to ask me about them.

Build great software

  • PHPStorm is my go-to IDE for all my Laravel development but frankly, I can use it for everything.
  • Laravel is my go to framework for my applications and you can fight me on this.
  • I have written a lot of React over the last 3 years and Next.js is now my favourite React framework. It supports SSR/SSG and all the things you would expect. You can read about the Leadhome transition to Next.js here.
  • Having insights into running apps is something I wish I had 10 years ago. I did not even know that error tracing and application monitoring tools were a thing. I have played with a few but Sentry is my friend and has plenty of tooling to surface runtime errors.

Finance

  • I have a few Google sheets for my overall budget but I also use 22seven to get an idea of actual spend and also as a tool to see my overall net worth. I should probably write something about why that is important to me.
  • I do not have too much invested in equities and ETFs (ironically both my kids have more invested than I do). However, my go to platform is Easy Equities for that.

Security

  • One of the most important tools I have is Bitwarden to manage all my passwords. Basically every account I have has a unique password, that I do not know and is relatively complex.
  • Along with strong passwords, I also use 2-factor authentication every where I can. Most places generally suggest Google Authenticator but Authy works everywhere Google Authenticator does.
  • Tailscale is my VPN/mesh networking tool of choice.

Hardware

  • My daily workhorse is a Macbook Air 15" (2024 m3l). I tried going the Linux route but the MacOS and hardware offering from Apple is just to compelling.
  • I have not found a mouse as good as the Magic Trackpad.
  • I am currently typing away on a Akko 3087 mechanical keyboard with MX blue switches. Typing on anything else feels weird.
  • My first smartwatch is a Garmin Forerunner 45. I must admit, it has updated my running game in ways I cannot believe. The data I can now take from a run is so much more enlightening than I expected and it all fits on my wrist.
  • I currently have an iPhone 11. It does what I need without costing what an iPhone 14 does. I also cannot go back to Android. It honestly does not feel the same.