My tech and productivity stack

If I were to create a solo startup, this is probably what I would use to build it.

Workstation

  • 16” MacBook Pro, M1 Max

    I cashed out on all my crypto gains and bought this. It is pretty powerful, but I often wished it runs on a x64 architecture.

  • Moonlander

    Mechanical keyboards are cool, but ortholinear split mechanical keyboards are even cooler.

  • VS Code

    I went through the Doom Emacs and Neovim phase, but always come back to VS Code (with vim keybindings) whenever I need to get some real work done.

Languages

  • Python

    Despite it's many flaws, Python is still my go-to language for whipping up a quick script or building a prototype.

  • Golang

    Golang is my preferred language for building backend services. It is expressive and performant, and the standard library is pretty comprehensive.

  • Elixir

    My latest obsession. Elixir (and Phoenix) feels productive and fun to work with. I'm currently using it for a side project, and waiting for the right opportunity to use it at work.

Dev Tools

  • Nix

    I use my MacBook to SSH into NixOS-based machines for dev work. After getting over the crazy learning curve, I cannot imagine going back to any other distros. My homelab runs on NixOS. My office desktop runs on NixOS. Almost all my projects contain a flake.nix file.

  • Terraform

    I am a firm believer in infrastructure-as-code, and I use Terraform to manage most of my cloud resources (AWS, GCP, Digital Ocean, etc.).

  • Tailscale

    I was using plain old Wireguard before, but Tailscale is dead easy to use, and it keeps getting better.

  • Cloudflare

    Cloudflare offers a lot more features than its competitors. Cloudflare Access, in particular, is a game changer. I use it to protect all my self-hosted services.

  • Excalidraw

    I love the asthetics of Excalidraw, and I use it to draw architectural diagrams, flowcharts, and sometimes even wireframes.

Productivity

  • Notion

    Knowledge management is super important for personal productivity. I use Notion to maintain a personal Digital Garden, host my research notes, and catalog household items.

  • Bear

    I use Bear for all my note-taking needs. Notion is great, but Bear is snappier, and organising notes using hierarchical tags is way better than using a nested page structure.

  • 1Password

    Everyone should be using a password manager. 1Password has the best user experience and has the least negative press among all the password managers.