A “tool” is “anything that can make your life better.” I love tools, whether physical or digital. And I love books, because they’re some of the best tools out there!
(For my personal “tech stack” recommendations, including what I use for email, social media, etc., see my /tech-stack page.)
DIY/Home Repair Tools
- Toolbox: AWP TrapJaw 3-in-1 Electrician Tool Pouch
- Previous: Hyper Tough 16-inch Open Top Tool Tote
- Drill and Driver Set: BOSCH CLPK22–120 12V Max Cordless 2-Tool 3/8 in. Drill/Driver and 1/4 in. Impact Driver Combo Kit
- Utility Knives:
- Hammers:
- Screwdrivers:
- Pliers / Wrenches:
- KNIPEX Tools - Pliers Wrench, Chrome (8603250), 10-Inch
- KNIPEX Tools - Cobra Water Pump Pliers (8701250),10-Inch
- In addition to the “250mm” size above, I also own the Pliers Wrench in 100mm and 180mm sizes, and the Cobra Pliers in 100mm and 180mm sizes.
- Measuring Tapes:
- Stud Finder: C.H. Hanson Magnetic Stud Finder
- Pry Bar / Nail Puller: ESTWING Pro Claw Moulding Puller - 10" Pry Bar
- SMALL Pry Bar: Lisle 35100 1/4" Pry Bar with Strike Cap
- Ridiculously Useful Pry Bar: 4140 Pry Tool (I guess these are used for sheet metal and airplane work, but you can use them for a TON of other stuff, too.)
- Hex / Allen Wrenches: TEKTON Ball End Hex Key Wrench Set, 26-Piece
- Tire Pressure Gauge: ETENWOLF Digital Tire Pressure Gauge, 2 Pack
Home
- Coffee Maker: OXO 9-Cup Coffee Maker
- Coffee Grinder: Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder
- Water Bottle: Owala FreeSip, 24oz
- Previous: Iron Flask, 64oz
- Nail Clippers: Muji Nail Clipper
- Cleaning Wipes: Tub O’ Towels Heavy Duty Cleaning Wipes
Health/Fitness
- Squat Rack: REP Fitness PR-1100 Power Rack
- Previous: Valor Fitness BD–9 Squat Stands
- Bench: Amazon Basics Flat Weight Bench
- Barbell and Weights: Fitness Gear 300lb. Olympic Weight Set
- Kettlebell(s): CAP Barbell Cast Iron Kettlebells
- Steel Mace(s): Retrospec Steel Macebells
- Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, by Mark Rippetoe
- Kettlebell Simple & Sinister: Revised and Updated Edition, by Pavel Tsatsouline
- Darebee: https://darebee.com/
Office
- Computer: MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
- Notebook: Leuchtturm1917 Medium Size Hardcover A5 Notebook - Dotted Pages
- Pocket Notebook: Field Notes
- Pen: Uni-ball Power Tank 0.7mm, Blue or Black
- Password Manager: 1Password
- Notes / Personal Knowledge Management: Obsidian
- Task Management: Apple Reminders (used to use Todoist) and Jira
Thinking and Learning Resources
- How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, by Mortimer J. Adler
- The Personal MBA, by Josh Kaufman
- The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User’s Manual, by Ward Farnsworth
- Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models, by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann
- Untools: https://untools.co/
- James Clear: https://jamesclear.com/
- Farnam Street: https://fs.blog/
- Your Logical Fallacy Is: https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/
- Your Bias Is: https://yourbias.is/
Productivity and Time Management Resources
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, by Stephen Covey
- Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, by Brian Tracy
- Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen
Software Development Resources
Software
- Terminal: Warp
- IDEs: IntelliJ IDEA and VS Code
- Database Management: Datagrip
- Version Control: Git and GitHub
- Containerization: Docker and Rancher Desktop
- API Testing: Postman
Books
- Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition by Steve McConnell (old, but still good!)
- Cracking the Coding Interview: 189 Programming Questions and Solutions by Gayle Laakmann McDowell
- Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems by Martin Kleppmann
- The Effective Engineer by Edmond Lau
- The Missing README: A Guide for the New Software Engineer by Chris Riccomini and Dmitriy Ryaboy
- The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. (again, old, but still very good!)
- The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt
- The Software Engineer’s Guidebook by Gergely Orosz
- System Design Interview and System Design Interview, Volume 2 by Alex Xu
- Understanding Distributed Systems, Second Edition by Roberto Vitillo
Other
- “The Pragmatic Engineer” newsletter by Gergely Orosz
- “How to Do Great Work” by Paul Graham
- “Get your work recognized: write a brag document” by Julia Evans
- ByteByteGo, especially the ByteByteGo Youtube channel
- Stack Overflow: https://stackoverflow.com/
- O’Reilly: https://learning.oreilly.com/
- roadmap.sh: https://roadmap.sh/
- cheat.sh: https://cheat.sh/
- DevHints.io: https://devhints.io/
- Learn X in Y minutes: https://learnxinyminutes.com/
- Baeldung (for Java/Spring): https://www.baeldung.com/