Best tools to work smarter, not harder, as a software developer. 
Tags: productivity, career, performance, tooling
Published: 2022-01-25 10:38:15

Simple ways to impress your manager by being more efficient and not spending extra work hours to show that you are the next model employee of the company. You don’t need to do more, just do it better, and way better than others. 

Here is a list of top tools that will boost your productivity and allow you to unleash your creativity and innovative thinking at work and get you noticed for it. 

If you haven’t implemented some of these tools in your team or organizations, be proactive and submit the adoption of these solutions to your superiors, no doubt they’ll appreciate your initiative and give it a shot!

- **Confluence**

The first proof of quality you can give your superior is showing that your skills in essential tasks to the good functioning of your job and your team’s such as documenting your work & processes. 

Confluence acts as a repository of knowledge, it is commonly used to keep and spread documentation across your team. It is very simple to use and visual with the possibility to start with a blank page or find inspiration from a precise template. You don’t have to worry about access, you can either share it for other colleagues to edit/comment or simply to read. 

One of the most advantageous features is the ability to link Confluence to your JIRA board and customize usage with lots of add-on that will improve your personal and organizational experience.  

https://www.atlassian.com/fr/software/confluence

- **Tabnine**

When it comes to saving time on writing lines of code, Tabnine is probably the most complete tool you can find nowadays. This completion tool will help you avoid mistakes and teach you best practices while you code, which can come in very handy when you are learning a new programming language for instance. 

Tabnine supports many languages like JavaScript, Python, PHP, Java, Go, Rust, C++ & TypeScript. You can also download it on most widely used IDEs: VS Code, IntelliJ, Sublime and more recent ones such as Vim. 

https://www.tabnine.com/

- **Komodor**

Tracking processes in your software factory can be confusing. With Komodor, visualize in an instant the current status of all your deployments in a single board. This way you get the information faster and are able to tell where you’re at, at all times. Plus, you can integrate it to Slack if you’re already using it, for alerts enabling you and your team to act faster in case of errors. 

An ability that will no doubt be greatly appreciated by your manager as knowledge is power. 

https://komodor.com/

- **The Silver Searcher**

Why does looking for a tiny piece of code in your repos should take so much of your time? 

Time is of the essence, spending it wisely is a sign of organizational skills and conscientiousness. The Silver Searcher aims at making you save a fair amount of time by finding this specific piece of code you need in no time. 5 to 10 times faster than Ack (other well known searching tool), The Silver Searcher runs on Unix & Windows. Once you tried it, you won’t be able to let go ;) 

https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher

- **Hey Space**

If you are looking for a tool that does more than Slack, Hey Space is the perfect combination of communication, collaboration and tasks/project management features. Its streamlined & modern interface will no doubt help you see clearer in your work. 

What’s really great about this tool is that you can stay on top of your to-do list while having the opportunity to chat with anyone everywhere. You can visualize your tasks in a board view, easily switch between conversations, turn any message into a new task and of course add a timeline to it and schedule it. All this shared with your team! 

https://hey.space/

- **musicForProgrammers**

Because we all need some fun but while remaining focused, Music for Programmers is a smart tool to avoid being distracted while managing your playlist while coding. This music generator has the appearance of a code editor, so when you want to change track you will have the impression to still be in your work environment. 

Hope this little trick works for you ;) 

https://musicforprogramming.net/latest/

If you also share the idea that doing better doesn’t necessarily mean trying harder but smarter, I think you might like to try the **Ponicode** solutions. This little unicorn does wonders in helping you get your unit tests done and dusted by generating input suggestions. 

https://www.ponicode.com/developers