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Derik Whittaker

Thoughts on Software Development, .Net, OOP, Design Patterns and all things cool

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RE: The importance of tools to a software craftsman

This is in response to a post by my good buddy joeyDotNet (found here). Joey has an obvious but insightful post about how a software craftsman should bring their own tools with them to make them more productive. In his post he specially talks about carrying his own keyboard form place to place (even taking it home every night -- Buy another one for home will you. If you need me to, I can paypal you the cash :) ).

Although I don’t carry my keyboard to and from work, I do bring my own keyboard and mouse (gotta have the TrackMan mouse) to every job I have. I even had a buddy that would carry his own monitor back and forth to work for a while because his company did not provide him with a quality monitor at work.

In all seriousness, joey does make a good point, and that is that all good software craftsman should provide their own tools. You would never catch a good carpenter on a job site without their tools. There is a reason. You are more productive with tools in which you are comfortable.

Anyway, nice post joey, keep them coming.

Till next time,

P.S. Glad to see you posting again, even if it is about Ruby and what not J

Published Sep 11 2007, 07:20 AM by Derik Whittaker

Filed under: Development Tools, Shout-Out, Opinion

Comments

joeydotnet said:

Haha, yeah yeah. Well I have seriously thought about bringing in a decent LCD to use, so donations will be accepted. :P

I probably have a dozen keyboards at home, but when you use the same one every day at work, you really start to get used to *that* particular one (at least I do). So if I end up doing some coding in the evenings/early mornings before work, then I like to be just as productive as I am at my "day job".

Well I'm hoping to start posting more and more on Ruby, but I need to spend a bit more time learning before I could have anything of value to post.

# September 11, 2007 8:43 AM

Derik Whittaker said:

@Joey,

See, i just went out and bought 2 keyboards and 2 mouses (should that be mice???). This way have have them both at home at work.

Decent LCD, thought you had a laptop?

# September 11, 2007 9:01 AM

KG2V said:

Heh - I HAVE a spare keyboard to carry from jon to job, but the joke is, I didn't have to with this job - on day one (almost 10 years ago) I got the exact same model from the supply room here - and have since picked up 2 more the company was going to toss - so now I have 3 (the original IBM keyboards)

I supplied my own mouse, scrouged my 2nd monitor, and paid for my own video card to drive it. I've also got a few hundred $$$ in software tools of my own on the PC

# September 11, 2007 9:03 AM

joeydotnet said:

@Derik,

Well yeah, I do have a decent widescreen laptop. But the LCD pales compared to my 22" widescreen Dell LCD that I have at home. :P

Unfortunately buying another Razer Tarantula & Copperhead would hit the wallet pretty hard. So I guess for now I'll just tote it along with me. :D

# September 11, 2007 9:18 AM

Christopher Bennage said:

:-D

I just purchased 4 of the Microsoft Natural Keyboards. 2 for home, one for my wife's work, and one for traveling to client sites. (CompUSA was having a sale!)

I used to carry a Logitech natural keyboard around with me all the time too.

# September 11, 2007 10:31 AM

Mike Hall said:

The Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 is the Cadillac of keyboards, and only $20, I have a stack of em for anyplace I sit down to code. Although the Razer mice are expensive they are worth every penny, using any other mouse feels sluggish now, plus they glow. "1337"

# September 11, 2007 2:40 PM

Lee said:

Unfortunately not every company sees it that way - on the first day of my current gig the MIS Director saw my ergonomic keyboard and informed me that non-company issued keyboards were not allowed, but that I might as well use it since "Security isn't going to let you out the door with it now."

Similarly, I've ended up buying my own licenses for software that helps me be more productive - like ReSharper - for the same reason: I consider myself a professional and these are all tools that help me do better work.

# September 11, 2007 6:42 PM

Derik Whittaker said:

@Lee,

Sucks to hear you work at a place like that. I have brought in my own keyboard, mouse, foot rest and office chair. To me, anything that makes me more comfortable will make me more productive.

The next time your MIS director says something about the keyboard. Ask if they are going to buy you an ergonomic one. If he says no, then ask if they are going to pay for the medical bills to pay for the pain that a standard keyboard will cause you. Simply ask which one will be cheaper :)

Derik

# September 11, 2007 7:02 PM

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About Derik Whittaker

Derik is a .Net Developer/Architect specializing in WinForms working out the northern suburbs of Chicago. He is also believer and advocate for Agile development including SCRUM, TDD, CI, etc.

When Derik is not writing code he can be found spending time with his wife and young son, climbing on his bouldering wall, watching sports (mostly baseball), and generally vegging out.