10 Awesome Gifts for Programmers, Software Developers, and Geeks

Published in

Javarevisited

8 min readNov 18, 2020

Photo by Ekaterina Shevchenko on Unsplash

Hello guys, it’s that time of the year again when we love to spend time with family and friends, buy gifts for them and show our love and care to them.

My friend circle has a lot of programmers and non-programmers and when it comes to buying gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays, I receive a lot of queries from my non-programmer family and friends about what to buy for a programmer?

Well, buying a gift is easy but choosing the right gift for someone is really really tough.

I have had this experience when it comes to buying gifts for kids. I know they like toys but my wife told me to buy something more valuable, which will not only keep them engaged but also provide some value, help them in learning and they appreciate it every time they use it.

That’s a lot to cater to one single gift, but that’s the perfect gift, isn’t it?

The same goes for programmers, you buy them something which they don’t care about will not make a difference, they will gleefully accept it and it will remain in a corner of the house.

But, if you give something which they can use daily or carve for, they will not only remember you every day but also appreciate your sense of gift.

You will be in their good books for a long time. This is particularly important if you try to impress your colleague or boss, who happens to be a technical guy or programmer.

Like any gift, the budget is very important, some gifts are good but if they are very expensive and you can’t afford them then it is not useful.

But, if you want to give someone who is dear to you like your husband, boyfriend, brother, or just a close friend, you definitely want to buy more valuable gifts.

That’s why I have included both valuable and somewhat expensive as well as many affordable gifts, which you can buy for under 100$ or a little bit higher. Btw, some of the links are affiliate links and I will get a small commission if you buy using these links with no additional cost to you.

Top 10 Gifts for Programmers and IT Professionals

Here are some of the best gifts you can give to your programmer friends. The gifts are listed in random order and some of them are costly, you can choose based on your budget.

1. Gift a course from Udemy

Programmers love online courses, including me and Udemy is the biggest collection of online courses.

It has got over 85,000 online courses to learn anything e.g. starting from popular programming languages like Java and Python to advanced technology e.g. Big Data, Automation, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Robotics, etc.

Udemy allows you to send a course or a gift card to your programmer friend, you just need to enter his email while purchasing the course.

One of my friends gifted me Go Java Full Stack with Spring Boot and React and I simply loved it. If your husband is interested in Data Science, Machine Learning, or Artificial intelligence then you can gift that too.

If you know what your husband or boyfriend likes then you can choose some awesome courses from Udemy otherwise just bought a gift card for them.

2. Pluralsight Membership

Programmer appreciates memberships and Pluralsight is like NetFlix for Software developers.

It contains 5000+ online courses on all the latest topics like front-end and back-end development, machine learning, etc. It also includes interactive quizzes, exercises, and the latest certification material.

Since learning is an important part of a programming job, Pluralsight membership is a great way to stay ahead of your competition.

You can buy the Pluralsight annual membership, which costs around 299$. It’s a little bit expensive but it offers him a lot of choices on learning and your programmer friend will appreciate it every time he uses it.

If you are concerned about the cost side then monthly membership is also a good option, which costs around 29$. The annual membership of Pluralsight is a little bit costly, but it’s worth every penny.

Btw, if you get lucky, you may get some holiday offers, last time I bought Pluralsight membership at a 33% discount during the same period.

3. Amazon Prime Music subscription

Another thing programmers Loves is music, they just never get tired of listening to music. Many programmers, in fact, need music to work and increase their productivity.

Amazon Music is the biggest collection of music and your programmer friend will surely find something he loves in this big store of music.

He will appreciate your thoughts and effort, every time he listens to music on his bose headset as well.

4. A Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi has been around for a while, but it seems like it just keeps getting awesome. Programmers are curious people and to play with electronics.

Raspberry Pi is an entire mini-computer for a ridiculously cheap price and you can get an awesome bundle, like this one, which adds all kinds of cool stuff to play with.

It’s also great for tinkering around with teaching programming to kids or making your own network of servers.

Once, I ran Linux on my Raspberry Pi and used putty to connect it, how awesome is that? In short, one of the best gadgets to gift your programmer friend.

Here is the link to buy a powerful Raspberry PI — A Raspberry Pi

5. Books (The Phoenix Project)

Similar to gadgets and music Programmers also like books a lot, but with the book, there is confusion. Which book you should buy for them? A novel, a programming book, or something else.

Well, even though many programmers like fantasy books and novels they are not so valuable for them but if you buy them something like The Phonix Project, a novel about IT, DevOps, and helping your business win then every Programmer will read, they will appreciate it more.

If you need more books like The Phonix Project or The Unicorn Project, the second part of this book which is a novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the age of data to gift programmers there are a lot of choices available, you should check out my list of 10 books every programmer should read here.

6. A Fitness club membership

This is another awesome gift you can give someone you love. Since many programmers lack physical activity, you are not only encouraging them to do more physical activity but also improving their lifestyle.

They may not appreciate it in a short time but they will surely do in the long run :-)

After all, Health is Wealth and you have just got one body to live in :-)

If you want some inspiration, you can also read The Healthy Programmer book, another perfect gift when it comes to combining both Fitness and book.

7. Logitech G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Every programmer needs a good keyboard and your friend will not be different.

Though some programmers like a silent keyboard and some programmers like a Gaming keyboard, I like gaming one more because I also play games on my PC.

Logitech is one of the best companies for peripheral devices, so to me, this keyboard is a great buy.

In addition to being a fantastic mechanical keyboard, it also has a bunch of really cool gaming features, so I’m a big fan of it.

8. Games

Like gadgets, music, and books, Programmers love Games too, well I certainly do. I have grown up playing Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros, Mortal Combat and I still play games on my Xbox.

So, either you can buy your friend a gaming console like Xbox or Nintendo PI or if he already has one, you can buy them games like Minecraft. That’s something they will enjoy for sure.

9. Intel Boxed Compute Stick with Windows 10 Pre-Loaded

This is a really awesome gift for tech geeks? An entire computer, complete with Windows 10, is on a stick. You just plug this thing into a TV or monitor and you have a computer.

And the best part of it is that it will just you over $100. Simply Awesome.

10. MacBook Pro

Programmers Love Gadgets and nothing beats Apple when it comes to gadgets. If you are a programmer friend who doesn’t have MacBook Pro then it’s a very good idea to gift that to him. They would love to work on 16 inch Mac Book Pro from Apple.

Sure, it’s costly, but if he is someone you love or are very close to, then it’s definitely worth it and whoever you gift it, will not forget you for a long time.

That’s all on this list of 10 awesome gift ideas for programmers. I am sure, your programmer friend or colleague will love any gift from this list. You can buy them for their birthday or gift them during the coming holidays.

I know it's hard to choose a gift but whatever time and effort you put to select a gift will be remembered forever by your friend if you keep their interest and needs in mind.

And, if you want to gift me something, then you can buy the first book I wrote after 10 years of blogging — Grokking the Java Interview. You can also use code friends30 to get a 30% special discount for my reader for a limited time.

Other Programming Articles You May Like to Explore

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these gift ideas for programmers and tech people please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.

If you have any other gift ideas then please share as I have told you …

Buying a Gift is easy but finding the right gift for someone is really really tough.

Happy Holidays !!