A 10-Step Guide to Set Up Your Laptop for Serious Development 💻

“Be good to me, my little War Machine ❤”

Background Image by Arnold Francisca on Unsplash

TL;DR

1. 🥇 MacOS | 🥈 Debian | 🥉Windows 10
2. ⛔ Cleanup
3. 🌏 Web browsers + 🔌 Dev plugins
4. ⏲ System resources
5. 💼 Professional IDEs
6. ☕ Technology stacks + 🔨 Build tools
7. 📑 Bash scripting
8. 🔐 SSH secure access
9. 🚀 Git version controlling
10. 💻 Safe usage practices

Background

When I see a newbie developer whose laptop has the OS vendor’s default desktop and pre-installed bloatware programs popping up, or he has to type the entire SSH command to access daily-using servers, I clearly know that he has gaps in his prior hands-on knowledge and sometimes can be unfit for serious work in the future. For the next few weeks, I will share tips and tricks to help him reduce the time spent on non-value-adding tasks and focus better on what matters the most. My argument is that if he can save15–30 minutes every day, then he gets 2 extra working weeks each year and can significantly reduce unnecessary stress on boring tasks. That’s a win-win for both developers and the company.

The following guide includes tips and tricks to fine-tune your laptop for the best productivity. If you know better suggestions, please feel free to share 😎

A solid local development environment is the key to developer productivity!

1. Choose the right OS for you 🥇🥈🥉

Based on your line of work and personal preferences, you may choose the right OS for you. The general tips you need to know are as follows.

Task-based tips

• Docker: In case you want to run Docker locally, either a Linux distro (like Debian), macOS or Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise/Education versions are preferred (Windows 10 Home has known issues with Docker).
• iOS: iOS development can only be done on XCode IDE running on a Mac, so you have to go for a Mac for…