Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.

People occasionally ask what I use to build software, so here's an up-to-date list of the hardware, software, and technologies I rely on every day. I'm primarily a C#/.NET developer who enjoys building full-stack applications. Over the years I've expanded into TypeScript, cloud infrastructure, and modern web technologies, but the Microsoft ecosystem is still where I feel most at home.

Computers & OS

  • Ubuntu

    Ubuntu is my primary development environment. Most of my backend services, containers, Kubernetes clusters, and infrastructure work happen here.

  • Windows 11

    I also maintain a Windows 11 workstation for Visual Studio and Microsoft-specific tooling. It's still the best environment for certain .NET workloads, profiling tools, MAUI experimentation, and staying current with the Microsoft ecosystem.

IDEs & Editors

  • JetBrains Rider

    My primary IDE. I spend most of my day in Rider building .NET services, reviewing code, debugging applications, working with databases, and navigating large codebases.

  • Microsoft Visual Studio

    I still regularly use Visual Studio for native .NET tooling, diagnostics, performance profiling, and keeping up with the latest Microsoft developer experience.

  • Visual Studio Code

    Perfect for frontend development, scripting, quick edits, Markdown, and configuration files.

Languages

C#TypeScriptSQLGoJavaScriptBash

.NET

  • ASP.NET Core
  • Entity Framework Core
  • Minimal APIs
  • SignalR
  • Background Services
  • LINQ
  • OpenAPI / Swagger

I'm also interested in distributed systems and have been exploring technologies like Microsoft Orleans.

Frontend

ReactNext.jsAstroViteTailwind CSSTanStack QueryReact Hook FormZod

Backend

Node.jsKoa.jsPostgreSQLPrismaRedisMinIO

I choose technologies that are easy to understand, easy to deploy, and easy to maintain over the long term.

Infrastructure

DockerKubernetes (k3s)TraefikCloudflareGitHub ActionsGrafanaPrometheusOpenTelemetryTempoSentryPostHog

Nearly every project I build is containerized from day one. Whenever it makes sense, I prefer self-hosting over managed cloud services.

Databases

  • Primary: Microsoft SQL server, PostgreSQL
  • Regular: Azure Cosmos DB, Redis, SQLite

AI

AI has become an everyday development tool rather than a replacement for engineering. I mostly use it for architecture discussions, code reviews, debugging, documentation, and generating repetitive code.

Recently I've been spending a lot of time experimenting with RAG, local models, and self-hosted AI infrastructure.

Philosophy

  • Build for the next five years, not the next five days.

  • Prefer boring, proven technology over hype.

  • Simplicity usually wins.

  • Good observability saves more time than clever code.

  • Self-host when it reduces long-term cost and gives meaningful control.

  • Measure before optimizing.

  • Continuously learn, but adopt new technology deliberately.