My setup

💻 Operating system

I am 100% a Mac user. Ipads, Iphone, Macbook, I use them all. I love the integration between all the devices and the ease of use. I'm currently working on a MacBook Pro with M3 chip & 36GB of RAM 🚀

👨‍💻 Tech Stack

• If I could marry a programming language, it would be with php. It's been by my side for over 20 years now and it works best for me.
• Some projects are done in Symfony but most of my projects are done in Laravel. The biggest advantage of Laravel is the huge community and ecosystem.
• By default I use a MySQL database but also PostgreSQL.
• My frontend skills are not that great but I can manage with Bootstrap. I use Vite as asset manager.
• This year I've discovered TailwindCSS. I love it!
• For Javascript, I try to stick to Vanilla Javascript as much as possible. But when I need a framework, I use Vue.js.

🛠 (Development)Tools

• The tool I use most of the time is PhpStorm. It is one of the most complete PHP IDE's out there. I also use the Github Copilot plugin, it is a real time saver.
• To work on MySQL databases I use Sequal Pro (nightly builds) Sequel Ace. For PostgreSQL I use pgAdmin.
• For the terminal I prefer to work on iTerm2. Boosted with Oh My Zsh.
• Testing endpoints and API's I do with Postman.
• I use Notion for documentation.
• To manage my to-do lists, I use Todoist.
• All my accountancy tasks are done in Billit.
• When I need some random noise to keep me focussed, I use Noisli.
• I use a Sony WH-1000XM4 to cancel out any unwanted noise.
• To keep me off my phone I have Forest installed (and to block site, there is a Chrome Extension).
• Caffeine makes sure my Mac does not go into sleep mode.

📧 Newsletters Blogs

I stopped subscribing to newsletters. I was not reading them anymore. I started using Feeder to keep up to date with blogs (and still some newsletters). Here you can download an export of my feed.

🎙️ Podcasts

Last years I found myself listing to more podcast that are not only development related. Here are some of my favorites:

• Computer Club (Dutch): By far my favorite podcast. All the latest tech news.
• De 7 (Dutch): A daily podcast with the 7 most important news (mostly financial & politics) items of the day.
• Mostly Technical: Hosted by Ian Landsman and Aaron Francis, Mostly Technical is a lively discussion on Laravel, business, and an eclectic mix of related topics.
• Acquired: Acquired tells the stories and strategies of great companies.
• No Such Thing As A Fish: Every episode they bring four (funny/interesting) facts.
• Stuff You Should Know: If you’ve ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime, and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.