My toolbox of handy (and occassionally rebellious) tools.
Though most of these are reliable, they sometimes surprise me with quirky errors or unexpected behavior. These are the moments when technology tests me—and I skillfully bring it back in line.
AI Tools
GitHub Copilot
100 developers waiting to build your next BIG idea! How cool is that!
IDEs
VS Code
VS Code receives a lot of attention from Microsoft in terms of updates and ecosystem support. When paired with GitHub Copilot, it truly feels like a next-generation development environment. I particularly enjoy using VS Code for front-end development.
Visual Studio 2022
One of Microsoft's long-standing IDEs. In my experience, it is particularly well suited for developing backend services with .NET.
Databases
MongoDB
MongoDB was my gateway into the NOSQL universe, where I first explored flexible, document-based data.
Opensearch
OpenSearch is an extremely fast distributed search and analytics system that handles NoSQL-style document data. I have worked with OpenSearch dashboards, which is based on Kibana.
PostgreSQL
Postgres is the modern RDBMS I prefer to work with, combining reliability with the features I need.
MSSQL
In 2005, MS SQL was the very first database I ever worked with, where I was introduced into the world of relational databases.
Redis
Redis is my preferred caching database. I have used tools like Redis Insight and RedisDesktopManager to explore and manage my data effectively.
Snowflake
I have used Snowflake as a cloud database platform. I understand how Snowflake supports downstream analytics via business intelligence tools.
Oracle
Oracle is one of the best databases I've worked with for handling extremely complex business logic, especially through its robust stored procedures. I have worked with Oracle, including writing stored procedures, though not at the highest complexity. PL/SQL Developer is the IDE that helped me work with Oracle database.
API Testing tools
Postman
In my experience, Postman's rich and intuitive feature set keeps me coming back to it, even after experimenting with other API testing tools.
Cloud
AWS
I use AWS across a wide range of use cases, including frontend hosting, backend services, and database management. Recently, I have been exploring agentic AI use cases with Amazon Bedrock.
Firebase
I use Firebase for hosting the websites I build.
Containerization
Docker Desktop
Creating learning environments in Windows 11 for new technologies is a lot easier with Docker Desktop.
Docker / CentOS 7
Spin up Docker containers—whether it's .NET Core, PostgreSQL, or any service you need with simple docker commands.
Design
Figma
I use Figma to bring my ideas to life through intuitive UI designs and prototypes. When I need to communicate ideas on the fly, I sketch diagrams right in Figma to share with stakeholders.
Source Control
Bitbucket
Bitbucket is a good choice if you are using the Atlassian ecosystem like Jira
GitHub
I love using GitHub to manage my Git repositories
CI/CD
Bamboo
Bamboo helps with the automation of building the source code, running unit tests, and keep everything else ready for deployment.
Octopus
Octopus takes the binaries from Bamboo and deploys them to various environments including variable substitution, configuration transforms, and other deployment tasks.
Monitoring
Splunk
Using Splunk Processing Languafe (SPL) to understand the logs and metrics from our applications.
New Relic
Helps you track throughput, error rates and slow queries—essentially any bottlenecks in your application.