Tools I Use
Hello everyone!
I wanted to talk a little bit about the tools I use to create, learn and build to shine some light on these great devs that worked on these softwares as well as showcase the hardware tools.
I program and do most of my work on my MacBook Pro 16 inch that I bought on release in late 2019. I have started using a Mac doing IT around 2014, 2 years after I started my professional career. I was scared to actually start using it for my everyday workflows because I have always used windows and on top of that I was running a Windows environment at the company I was working at the time. It took a lot of research but I was able to very comfortably use my Mac as tool of choice to manage my windows environment as well as do future projects, since then I have not looked back, but I do have a windows desktop for all my computer games when I’m not working or if I need to test anything.
I use an iPad Pro 12.9 inch to compliment my Mac, I have always used an iPad alongside my Mac it’s a great companion device when I’m not at my laptop or now need to draw up diagrams, it’s much smaller so I can take it around but these past new versions of iOS really changed the game and made it essential for my workflows, I use sidecar very often. For those who don’t know sidecar it’s a feature that allows people to use the iPad as a second screen when working on the laptop.
Moving onto the software tools I want to do a shoutout to Hasan Kassem for developing the app Mockup during the time when I started Thirst Counter. Mockup is one of the apps I been using to draw sketches of designs and concepts for my app and it’s been helping me out a lot, I used to grab pictures online of iPhone frames and draw using Nobility which is another fantastic app for note taking which I would also recommend but it wasn’t “catered” to what I was trying to do.
Other applications I been using are Notion which allows you to create almost anything in your workflow but I use it for “tickets” and product roadmap, it is also a great place to refer to past progresses and notes. Mind Node is another app that allows you to create notes. I often find comfort in thinking in flows, moving from one idea to another and mind node helps visualize these flows so that you understand how you got to an idea which can think about other ways to solve problems. Pages and Tot I use for documenting and typing out things, Tot especially good for recording things in the menu bar on the Mac and I really use it for quick notes or a placeholder until I decide where I want to move it to later. Last but not least magnet, I use this app to organize windows in my macOS environment, it’s very handy when you are looking at documentation or you want to reorganize windows around to optimize space, this is Windows feature that I really love that is brought over to the Mac through this app.
That is it for now, I have many more apps that I use that I will mention in a future post. I think these tools are incredibly powerful, if they fall into what you are looking for I hope you give them a try! Until next time.
Cheers,
JLee
