HN Explorer

Ask HN: What's a Good Gift for Programmers?

18 points by lemonada ↗ HN
What's a useful gift to give to a programmer? I am trying to think of something that they will either use daily, or increase their knowledge/productivity. Budget $100USD. I was thinking one-off/non-subscription high-quality paid utilities, e.g. diff tools such as Beyond Compare, HFS+ file system driver etc. I also considered courses/ebooks but generally I feel that, unless these are the highest quality, utilities will be more often used. Anyway, all suggestions welcome, regardless of targeted developer platform/domain.

49 comments

[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 114 ms ] thread
riaandewit
This could be tricky! More and more, programmers are moving away from the stereotype of white dude who likes to play computer games in their spare time, and is always on the lookout for a gadget. I’d opt for giving them a gift voucher for an area of interest to them. That way, they could buy a raspberry pi if they wanted, or art supplies, or get nails done, or have a spa treatment. They could even use it to top up their own spend :) Key thing is to know your audience. If you don’t, maybe setup a system where they can choose. I wouldn’t recommend buying equipment for them. They’re a very particular bunch, and you could end up buying “rubbish” in their opinion! Maybe one of the options could also be to not give the money to them, but to a charity. Only if they choose it though!
dustymcp
I would say money instead of giftcards then make a nice card with the intend, that way it doesnt rot in shelf somewhere and will hold value..
sloaken
Agreed, I hate gift cards as they force where to spend the money. But when my kids get Amazon ones, I trade it for cash and then just register it. I know we have at least one outback steak house card somewhere,never remember to bring it with us. Cannot keep up with it.
CodeGlitch
> stereotype of white dude who likes to play computer games in their spare time

That was me until I was about 31. Then I had a daughter and had even less time or energy to play games. Now I'm 40 and suffering from health anxiety, and have found gaming as a good way to cope... Specifically Skyrim :)

Also my daughter is into Minecraft.

gaws
> More and more, programmers are moving away from the stereotype of white dude who likes to play computer games in their spare time, and is always on the lookout for a gadget.

Yawn

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
teeray
I’m a huge fan of Dash[0]. Being able to instantly summon documentation for many, many languages and third-party packages is a superpower.

[0] https://kapeli.com/dash

andrei_says_
I use it and love it. Integrates great with Alfred.

I’d love to have received a license.

utucuro
So what's the upside compared to devdocs.io? Seems restricted to macs for a negative...
mburst
I really enjoy my pbt key caps. Programmers spend all day at the keyboard and the oils from their fingers wear down the key caps and make their keyboards look terrible. PBT feels better and takes longer to break down. You can get a good set for $30. Just make sure the key caps on their keyboards come off.

Logitech also makes some nice wireless mice around $100 that are pretty ergonomic and comfortable to use. Anything to help prevent carpel tunnel is nice.

A lot of programmers really love the jetbrains tool suite, but that's more subscription based.

A lot of free database viewer tools pale in comparison to their paid counterparts. So something in that arena could be nice

jareklupinski
or even just a single keycap with a character or design they enjoy to replace their Esc key or something

those things can get up to $30-50 or higher depending on materials, putting it exactly in the range of "would never buy it themselves but would still love to get it" which imo is peak gift territory

traverseda
In the interests of shameless self-promotion, I made these calender's I think are pretty cool: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1012906584/wooden-calendar-p...

Just finished programming a solver (well, ripping apart someone else's solver) to solve for all the possible states (hint, look up Knuth's Algorithm X).

Don't imagine they'd ship in time though if you were interested.

sloaken
At first I was, WTF?!? But when I saw the second image, I must admit I love it. Will now share with daughter who was asking.
sigmaprimus
That is a very nice design, did You use a diode laser to cut it?
traverseda
No, I used a CO2 laser. I don't imagine a diode laser would cut it.
sigmaprimus
I have just started getting into wood working and want to build whirlygigs which I believe would go a lot faster with a laser cutter. I am thinking the way to go for now might just be a scroll saw for cutting and diode laser for pattern transfer but eventually I'll probably get a CO2 unit.

Would You mind telling us what brand You are running? I have heard good things about the Epilogs.

traverseda
I inherited a glowforge from a failed business venture. I can't say I'd recommend that brand for serious works, among other things it requires an always on internet connection and need to re-process your files after every run.

It is very easy to use though, and aside from normal maintenance and one $1600 hardware failure that I had to pay out of pocket to fix, it's been generally rock solid and zero configuration/tinkering. Just reliable results every time.

For serious work I'm looking at an omtech laser. They're basically inexpensive chinese laser cutters that have a parts warehouse and support in north-america.

Their entry level machine is less than a grand, so I'd probably recommend one of those instead of a glowforge to start with. I only really have experience with the glowforge, but even if I wasn't price-sensitive the time it takes to process the designs and the SaaS business model would mean I probably wouldn't get another one.

dusted
Time. I wish 4 weeks of "me" time to write my own code and not be disturbed by anybody.
disambiguation
This isn't really something you can gift to someone else.
voakbasda
Sure it is. It only takes a gift certificate to pay for one month of their salary.
dusted
You can tell them in a believable way that it's okay for them to do this, and leave them alone for the agreed upon period of time :P
sigmaprimus
I have always liked these but felt it was too much of an extravagance to buy for myself and it is 25 dollars over your budget.

Etsy Link...err tindy

https://www.tindie.com/products/stephanelec/mooltipass-mini-...

But what programmer wouldn't want their own open source customizable authenticator?

Edit** I guess it is technically just a password vault but I think it is still a pretty cool gift. Another thing I think would make a nice gift is this (I must be on a password kick tonite)

Tindy Link

https://www.tindie.com/products/russtopia/psstm-mark-ii-pass...

sigmaprimus
Lol, I guess I just bought myself an Xmas present...Just ordered a matched pair of the keychains and 2 sets of rings from 2nd link.
chrismatheson
Not sure if this really counts under your original spec, but I’m a programmer and I think they are cool.

Desktop steam engines [1]

You can get the engine on its own which can be powered by a candle or small oil burner. Then you can build your own stuff to starch to it to be powered!

1. https://www.amazon.com/steam-engines/s?k=steam+engines

captainbland
Use daily and increase their productivity? Have you thought of getting them some kind of coffee machine?
ivan_ah
Aeropress for example is quite cheap and makes good coffee.
nurettin
More RAM, USB stick, an external disk, solar charger, the more the better.
ivan_ah
If they have showed any interest in math and/or physics, you should consider getting them my MATH&PHYS book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0992001005/noBSmathphys it's very popular for programmers.

I also have a book on linear algebra, which would be good for people doing more machine learning or data sciency stuff: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0992001021/noBSLA

Both books are perfect for math haters, since they start out with a review of high school math.

sloaken
Looks good, thanks, I bought the math one for my son.