List of Software Engineering tools gathered from across the company
Yes, this is yet another “231 productivity tools which will save you years of work” article. Sort of.
It’s not a personal list of tools I use every day, but rather a result of a company-wide workshop which was meant to gather inspiration from a bigger group of Software Engineers and Site Reliability Engineers. Besides tools, it includes various tips & tricks to improve your and your team’s everyday life.
You’ve probably seen some/most of these tools, but from my experience, every such list brings some interesting discoveries, so enjoy!
The idea of a workshop evolved from a mentoring session revolving around being more efficient as a developer.
Shortcuts:
🔥 Hot tools
Terminal for MacOS
IDE
Git
Front-end
Mac OS
Database
Productivity
Terminal for MacOS
- Use reverse search! Control + R on Mac
- Nice theme, e.g. Monokai terminal theme
Oh My Zsh
- Plugins: git, docker, docker-compose, history-search-multi-word, zsh-history-substring-search, zsh-syntax-highlighting
- Long commands history: Oh My Zsh uses 10000 as default, here’s a nice overview what options there are (also outside Oh My Zsh)
- Nice prompt, e.g. pure
iTerm2
Tips and tricks
IDE
- Visual Studio Code
- IntelliJ
- Webstorm
- SublimeText
- Atom
- CodeSandbox
- Codepen
VS Code tricks & extensions
- Shortcuts: cmd + shift + F → Search in files; cmd + p → find file
- MD files
- Preview: images, PDFs, …
- GitLens
IntelliJ tricks & plugins
- JetBrains Toolbox
- CodeWithMe
- SonarLint
- Shortcuts: shift + cmd +/- (collapse, expand code); cmd+shift+A (shortcut to all shortcuts); ctrl+tab; cmd+option+M/V/P; cmd+O(+shift); and more
- On save actions: optimise imports; eslint fix, etc.
- Key promoter
- Plugins: Rainbow brackets, CSV, PlantUML, CamelCase, AceJump (for keyboards pros), Save Actions, Color highlighter
- Intellij Material Theme UI + Atom material Icons
Git
GUI
- Sourcetree
- Fork (+ custom commands for PRs creation)
- VSC, JetBrains built-in tools
- KDiff3
Tips & tricks
- Precommit with linters and tests
- Oh My Zsh Git Aliases
- Semantic commits for clear git messages
- Default git pull set to rebase
- GPG to sign commits
- Global local git prehook to include Jira ticket in the commit message
- git-crypt with transcrypt
Remote repositories
- Setting default reviewers
- Slack integration (concerns pipelines)
- Assigning a PR first to yourself, then other reviewers
- Unleash on premium GitLab plans
Front-end
Development
- Prettier
- ESLint
- Live reload
- React snippets
- Flipper, Testing Library, Cypress, Storybook, Tailwind, Chart.js, FontAwesome, Lokalise, Redux, i18next
Chrome Dev Tools
- cmd+option+J/I to open
- cmd+O to search files
- Debugging, Performance, App Storage
Chrome
- React Developer Tools
- Redux
- Testing playground
- AXE: accessibility testing
- Lighthouse
Misc
- ImageMagick, TinyPNG
- Amplitude.js, Sentry
- Figma
Mac OS
Shortcuts
- cmd+space: spotlight
- cmd+shift+3/4: screenshots
- cmd+`: switch same app windows
Notes
- Notes :), Evernote, Bear, Todoist, Notion
Topbar and helpers
- Spectacle, Rectangle, Magnet: window positioning
- Dozer
- Karabinier Elements
- easy-move-resize
Sketching
- excalidraw.com
- Miro
Security
- KnockKnock, 1Password, Brave browser, KeePassXC, Bitwarden, Keybase
Misc
- Separated desktop spaces
- Do not disturb mode
- Calendar app
Database
- Robo 3T, DBeaver, MongoDB Compass, Sequel Pro
Productivity
- BeProductive
- Boostnote
- Slack reminders, snippets, huddle
- Krisp.ai
- Franz
- Headspace
- Blinkist
- Syntax FM
I hope you found something new and useful. What do you use in your company? Share your insights!
