The Tools I Pay For
There are a few tools I’m happy to pay for. Let’s list them out and how much I’m spending on them. These are all professional tools so I can write them off.
| Name | Description | Cost (USD) | Usage | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surfshark | VPN | 2 yr plan, 65.74 | Multiple times daily, multiple devices | https://surfshark.com/ |
| 1Password | Password Locker | 59.99 per year | Multiple times a day | https://1password.com/ |
| GitKraken | git gui | 31.39 per year | Daily | https://www.gitkraken.com/ |
| Freshbooks | Time tracking and invoices | 205.20 per year | Weekly | https://www.freshbooks.com/ |
| Balsamiq | Wireframes | 1 time payment, 89.00 | A few times a year | https://balsamiq.com/ |
Surfshark
This is my current VPN. It works great. I use it on all my devices. Mac OS, Windows, and two Android devices. I tend to switch VPNs each time the sub expires because I am still searching for the one I really want. I think next I might try Mullvad. The only real issue I’ve encountered is that I can allowlist URLs on PC and Android, but not on Mac OS.
1Password
I am a convert from LastPass. 1Password is awesome. It’s another app that I use on multiple devices and operating systems. It’s a great way to store and organize my passwords. I like that it works so smoothly on all my devices. I like that it looks good. And if I can ever get my family to start an account I can easily share passwords with them. I was converted after being given a 1password account at work, and 1password cleverly gifted personal accounts to everyone that had a professional account. Perfect marketing strategy. I may switch to Bitwarden in the future if I can get over my own laziness.
GitKraken
GitKraken is just my favorite git gui. I haven’t found anything that looks quite as good. It has one bug in it that I wish they would get around to fixing. If you open the app after you have already entered into a merge conflict, the app will crash. This really sucks and can really interrupt my workflow when it happens. But I think it worth tolerating for the nice UI.
Freshbooks
As a 1099, independent contractor, I use this to track my hours and invoices. I can track time against multiple projects for multiple clients. I just print my Invoices and email them out myself, but there are some invoice automation features if I need. It’s simple enough for my needs, though the cost has gone up this past year so I again will probably have to review some alternatives this year.
Balsamiq
I like the simplicity of Balsamiq. It’s a good wireframing tool that is intuitive for me to reason about. It has features that allow me to save groupings of elements as a template that can be repeated across different pages. Editing a template updates the template across all pages that use it. I also appreciate its “cartooniness”. There’s no mistaking that this is a low fidelity wireframe.
Honorable Mention - JetBrain’s IntelliJ IDEA
The day I go back to Java, I’ll be picking up IntelliJ again. I haven’t had to write any java in a couple years so I haven’t renewed my license for IntelliJ.