11 Daily Drivers for Data Geeks and Devs Alike — My “Toolshed”

“If you’re like me and spend all your life wishing you could be a computer…. I mean, working in front of a computer. You could use these tools to save yourself some time or make your life easier. Check them out. “ — Keeanu Reads

Unrelated to tech but related to the title. Src: https://www.motortrend.com/features/eurp-1011-rauh-welt-begriff-porsches/

Read the titles/headers, and if you know it already, just move on. I’m not here with ground-breaking news, just sharing what works for me.

1. Excel Image Parsing

• Frequency of Use (Quarterly): Convenient tool to turn image data into editable tables.
• Instructions: Insert tab > Grid + Camera Icon> From Clipboard/File, and scrutinize red-highlighted cells for possible inaccuracies. The red boxes will be the ones excel is not sure on and you need to manually validate.

• Alternative Strategies & Cost: Leverage Adobe ($$$), engage in manual data input (TIME), or script with Tabula for alternative handling of image-to-table conversions (ANGER).

2. Charting/Diagramming Software (e.g., Miro, Lucidcharts)

• Frequency of Use (2–3x/week): Provides a clear and collaborative platform for visualizing workflows or ideas.
• https://miro.com/ — one of my favorites for diagramming + collab and can make technical diagrams.
• https://lucidchart.com — more optimized for highly technical charts, less for collaboration and diagramming as miro is.
• Note: Emphasizing visual engagement, these tools facilitate coherence in team processes and project mapping. If you work for hours, days, weeks and you don’t understand requirements… you’re going to have a bad time.

Me explaining to all of you to make sure you understand requirements.

3. Wireframing/Design Software (e.g., Figma, XD, Balsamiq)

• Frequency of Use (Daily): Streamlines the initial stages of project design and client communication through mockups.
• Tip: Great for avoiding miscommunications and ensuring all stakeholders have visually-aligned expectations from the start. Visual representations of dashboards and deliverables are a great way to communucate your understanding of the ask. Especially when the user has to actually TOUCH something you came up with.
• Adobe XD : $$$ — easiest to learn/least features
• Figma: has a free tier and is the best in 2023..

The best tutorial for Figma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTFaQWZBqQ8&pp=ygUQZmlnbWEgMjAgbWludXRlcw%3D%3D

• Balsamiq : eh… I listed it because it exists…

4. GitHub Copilot & ChatGPT

• Frequency of Use (Daily): Powerful duo for code assistance and multi-purpose interactions.
• Pricing & Use-Cases: Copilot at $10/month and premium ChatGPT at $20/month offer help from code autocompletion to general queries and mental unload.
• Caution: Ensure secure and compliant use, avoiding input of sensitive or restricted data.

If you accidentally copy your database credentials into chatGPT, see the image above about the kind of time you’ll have. Rhymes with “rad time”, but it’s not rad.

5. Sublime Text — https://www.sublimetext.com/

• Frequency of Use (Daily): A lightweight, highly efficient text editor for various needs.
• Personal Note: A favorite for many due to its simplicity and functionality, acting as a stellar alternative to basic system note apps. Also, you can just save files with their extension to turn on the code coloring themes. (.py, .js, etc)
• I use this everyday to take notes, keep track of my work, etc. It’s just lightweight and no extra features.

6. VSCode / PyCharm

• Frequency of Use (Daily): Robust IDEs offering extensive features and support for developers.
• VSCODE — https://code.visualstudio.com/
• PYCHARM COMMUNITY (scroll to bottom for download) — https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/
• Note: Both loved, with PyCharm sometimes being seen as having a steeper learning curve but ultimately rewarding with its features.

7. Personal Calendar

• Frequency of Use (Daily): An unexpected but paramount tool for personal and professional time management.
• Personal Insight: Well, I thought this would be totally obvious since you know… how else do people manage their time? When I was in my 20s… all of them… 20–29… I did not use a calendar. I just let people put meetings on my schedule and I would comply. Now, that is a nightmare for me. I find much more control and comfort in knowing I can plan my week(s). My family has access to my calendar and as such we plan our events and outings much better. It seems too official for some, but it helps me communicate clearly when I am free and when I am not. Also, why it is I am not free. Once kids come into the mix, you need to talk about this stuff. Calendar is great. Do calendar.

Boxed out the real private stuff. Notice I even scheduled to take out the trash.

8. Discord … not slack. (slack is cool too)…

• Frequency of Use (2–3x/week): A community-rich platform, particularly for developers seeking advice or knowledge sharing.
• Note: Look slack is great and all but it’s not discord. Different use-cases. Discord is totally SFW but it feels NSFW. You can make servers, channels, share files, group meetings, play games… etc. The top use-case related to professional endeavors is joining dev related communities. If you look at new tooling for whatever area of tech you are in, there is like a discord community either moderated by the company or unofficially by users. This is such a huge, huge, huge resource if you need to implement something but cannot find help or the generative AI overlords don’t know the answers

9. Google Chrome Extensions & Dev Tools

• Frequency of Use (Daily): Enhances browsing and development experiences through various functionalities.

Key Extensions:

• 1Password — if you’re going to use a password manager at least use the best one.
• Adjust Screen Brightness — helps so my retina doesn’t fall off when im in the dark
• Honey — I hate overpaying for stuff or when things don’t have coupons.
• Video Speed Controller — I only watch on 2x + speed. If I could do this to you on zoom, I would. I hope you’d do it to me too. :) Two hotkeys control the speed on any videos on your browser (A = slower, D = faster)
• Wappalyzer — lets you see the tech used to build the web site or app you are on.

• Return YouTube Dislike — I want to know like to dislike ratio… especially on political videos.

10. Better Snap Tool — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bettersnaptool/id417375580?mt=12

• Frequency of Use (Daily): A simple solution for window management on Mac.
• User Experience: A one-time purchase from 10+ years ago still proves its value in streamlining workspace organization on Mac systems.

11. Insomnia — https://insomnia.rest/

• Frequency of Use (Weekly): A sleek, easy-to-use tool for API testing.
• Highlight: Offers a clean interface for endpoint testing, available for free, and resonates with those who often find themselves coding into the night!