Hey, what's up?
John Sonmez here from simpleprogrammer.com.
It's about that time of year where I put together my list of Christmas gifts, of software developer
gifts, programmer gifts, whatever you want to call it for this year as it's getting around
the holiday seasons and a lot of you are either shopping for gifts to put on your own gift
list, buying yourself the gift or perhaps you want to send this video to one of your
significant others or family members or friends in order to tell them what they should buy
you for Christmas this year or put in your stocking.
Without further ado, I'm going to get into the list, but actually before I do there is
a little bit further ado.
I will tell you that if you want to check out—I did a video last year on this.
You can check it out and I will also create a blog post out of this so there will be a
blog post with links and everything which you can check out.
You can check out last year actually, maybe we can link to last year's blog post on this,
so you've got a nice resource that you can send people if you don't want to go through
the whole video and you can just send them a link and you can tell them, "Buy me something
from this."
All right, so I'm going to go through my list here.
It's fairly large and I'm going to tell you the things that I would like to see on my
Christmas gift list.
I also surveyed the Simple Programmer audience and got a lot of good responses.
These are kind of the most popular things and I'm pretty sure that most software developers,
a lot of software developers would be interested in, a lot of programmers, a lot of tech geeks,
whatever, would find these things interesting.
Let's see here.
The very first one I have here is computers, I'm going to talk about computers first.
I have a Surface II, the Microsoft Surface II.
This is really—or Surface Book II, Microsoft Surface Book II.
I had the original Surface Book and I thought it was really cool.
I ended up trading it in and getting a more powerful machine, but the Surface Book II,
the cool thing I like about that why I recommend it as a gift is that it has the ability to
actually have a real graphics card in there.
it's been beefed up.
They fixed a lot of the hinge problems, fixed a lot of the issues that I had with the original
Surface Book, really, really good product it seems at this point.
I haven't used it myself at this point, but I like all the upgrades they put in there
especially having the higher end video cards so you can actually do some real gaming.
That was the big problem I had why I traded in my Surface Book was I couldn't actually
do any gaming on it.
Next is the Mac Book Pro, the next version, the newest version of Mac Book Pro.
Also, Apple updated this.
Obviously, most developers want to get a Mac Book Pro.
That is very, very popular.
Obviously, it's an expensive gift as well as the Surface Book II, but Mac Book Pro I
have to put that on there since so many people requested this.
Next up I've got actually this, right here, this iPhone X or iPhone X as it's actually
called.
A really top of the line phone, obviously, $1200 phone, but it's a really good phone.
It has face recognition on it instead of the touch ID.
It has—the thing I like about it the most, the reason why I actually did the upgrade,
there were 2 reasons.
One, because the camera is really good on it, but the other thing is I like that it's
a smaller phone and it still has the same screen real estate as the larger plus because
I had the iPhone—my last phone was the iPhone 6S Plus and so upgrading to this was worth
it to me, just to be able to have something smaller in my pocket.
The face ID is pretty cool as well.
Along with that I have to say the Pixel 2.
I don't have a Pixel 2 but that's the android competitor essentially.
There's obviously, a couple other options, but by far and large the most popular option
that I got from my audience, from Simple Programmer, was the Pixel 2 by Google.
Next up, this one I'm kind of excited about is the SNES Classic Edition console.
This is basically a Super Nintendo with a bunch of games loaded on it that Nintendo
put out.
These are kind of hard to find.
They have been out of stock, but supposedly there's supposed to be a bigger stock coming
in, but these are really cool.
I'd actually really like to get one of these myself because it would be a lot of fun.
I actually tried to get the NES Classic Edition last year and I just couldn't.
It was sold out.
You might have to actually buy it on the secondary market, but pay a little bit more if you really,
really want it, but it's pretty cool.
They have some really awesome games on there, so I'm pretty excited.
Super Nintendo was one of my favorite, definitely, consoles of all time.
Next also I'll put NES Classic Edition.
These are hard to get.
Obviously, Nintendo is not making them anymore so you have to buy it on the secondary market,
but if you can get one, I never ended up getting one.
That's a pretty good gift, I think, because they're so hard to get.
All right, next up, we've got the actual SSD drives.
I always talk about SSD drives because I think for developer, for a programmer having a fast
computer is really important.
It's something I always geek out on.
I always want to have the fastest SSD drive possible so these are pretty cool.
Every year I usually give the update, like what is the best SSD drive that you can get
for the money.
This year there are two contenders, the 960 Pro 500 GB.
That is the fastest M2 drive that's available.
It's expensive so there's an EVO version instead of the pro version which is another option.
A new contender here is Intel's Optane SSD 900P, there's the 480GB version.
You can check this one out here.
This is really cool, really, really fast.
Again, pretty expensive but it's considered by a lot of people now to be the king of the
SSD hill, the top SSD drive.
It has a little bit of different performance characteristics so I would encourage you to
look between the two, but it is definitely really cool.
It's actually creating a new category of SSD of it's own.
I'm not going to spend too much time in there, but you can research the details if you're
interested.
Next up, I have the Raspberry Pi 3.
This always goes on my list because so many developers want to hack on the Raspberry Pi
and I understand why.
It's a pretty cool little computer.
With that I'll also add the Adreno which is another one that usually makes it on my list.
Again, another really cool project for hacking for building some cool stuff, and just playing
with technology, building robotics, stuff like that.
Next up, I'm excited about this one, I actually love this one.
I won't pull out my Oculus Rift, but I'm going to say Oculus Rift.
Really, really cool.
I was really impressed with this technology.
I got it last year, actually, for Christmas and I was skeptical at first.
I thought, okay, 3D technology, whatever, it's been crap whenever I used it, but I was
amazed.
After getting Oculus Rift I was like, "I don't want to play any game that's not 3D."
It really is a lot of fun.
I highly recommend that.
Next, we're going to get to ultrawide monitors.
I've got an ultrawide monitor.
I am a believer now in ultrawide versus 4K monitor because ultrawide is the ultimate.
It's like dual monitor except there's no line down the middle.
Ultrawide is the way to go as far as I'm concerned for software developers, for programmers,
for anyone that's really into technology and does a lot of work in the computer.
I've got three options for you.
They're all Dell ones.
They seem to be the top ones this year.
I've got an LG model myself which I mentioned last year, but the first one—and this will
go from low end to high end.
The Dell U3415W, that's kind of the lowest end model of it.
Still really good, curved Dell ultrawide monitor.
Then we've got the Dell 3417W which is a higher end version of it.
This is probably where I would go for most people is this middle of the line version.
It's really good.
It has really good performance characteristics and high-quality display.
If you really want to go all out, if you really like—if Santa Claus is really being good
to you this year then he'll get you the Dell 3818DW which is sort of the top line.
That would be on my Christmas list if I were looking for a new monitor this year, it would
be that one and it's pretty damn expensive.
Any one of those three options though is going to be really good.
Next, also having to do with laptops or monitors is—a couple of people pointed this to me,
it's called Yourslide Laptop Monitor and you can get it—I'll put the link in, but it's
Yourslide.
What this is is this is an actual monitor, external monitor that goes in your laptop
to make your laptop dual screen or triple screen.
This is pretty cool.
It's an external monitor.
It's designed for the laptop.
It has a little tray.
It comes out and it clips into place and you can have dual screen.
This is one of the problems I've always had with laptops is that I want to have a dual
monitor display.
With a laptop you can't do that, but now you can.
Go check that out.
That's really, really cool gift, I think.
It was something I didn't know existed.
Next, I've got the Apple Watch 3 on this list.
I had it on my list last year.
I still think—I'm wearing my original Apple watch that I got in Paris a couple—the very
first—when it first launched.
I probably need to upgrade this sucker, but I don't know.
I don't use the Apple Watch enough that—the features on it that I felt the need to upgrade
it, but the Apple Watch 3 actually has GPS built in and a couple other cool features.
It's possibly worth an upgrade if you have the older version and you use it a lot, if
not, it's a pretty cool technology gadget especially if you've got an iPhone.
Next up, this one I'm pretty excited about as well because I like gaming which is the
Nintendo Switch.
I got this actually for my birthday this year.
It's ass pretty cool system.
I like that it's so portable that you can actually play it on a screen on your TV and
then you can pull it out and you can play and you can bring it on a trip with you.
I travel a lot so that's really cool.
It's still hard to get a hold of, I think, it was—I mean I had to get it at a secondary
market.
You might still have to for Christmas.
I don't know.
We'll see.
I'm going to recommend two games for it.
One is Zelda Breath of the Wild.
I'm actually still playing through this.
It's a really big and long game, but it's really fun.
Then Super Mario Odyssey is the big one for this year.
I haven't gotten it yet, but I'm really interested in that game, obviously, the Super Mario game.
Okay, moving on.
Now, I'm going to get into some subscriptions here that are going to be useful.
The first one, obviously, I'm going to recommend Pluralsight because they're awesome.
Pretty much any developer that doesn’t have Pluralsight subscription is going to be pretty
thrilled.
Just go with an annual subscription for the pro for the best gift idea.
Pluralsight is awesome, awesome, awesome.
Obviously, I've got 55 courses on Pluralsight so I'm slightly biased, but I really, really
think that Pluralsight is a good value and is a great gift, I mean, for any developer.
This is something that I will be giving as a gift.
Probably, the number one thing that I would probably give just because—like I know it's
going to be well received.
It's awesome training, going to enhance your career, plus it's a lot of fun.
I've got some game programming courses on there too, which are a lot of fun.
Next, similar Interview Cake subscription.
I did this promotion with Interview Cake this year.
I discovered them.
I've done some videos talking about them, but they're awesome.
There's such an awesome way to prepare for a coding interview.
Again, another really good gift.
Something that is going to highly benefit a software developer to get a good job.
Specially to get a job at like Apple, Google, Microsoft, one of those where they are going
to have these kinds of interview questions.
Interview Cake is just awesome.
These guys are awesome.
A lot of you bought when I did the special, like I think several hundred of you bought
Interview Cake subscriptions and I've gotten a ton of positive feedback from it.
Really cool.
All right, next up.
This one I didn’t even know existed.
Computer glasses.
I mean there's a bunch of different kinds of computer glasses out there, but essentially
glasses that remove the strain on your eyes when looking at computer.
They're specifically—I haven’t looked into all the details, but it looks pretty
interesting.
A lot of people are swearing by computer glasses now.
It makes sense.
Also, if you want to look a little bit more chic, like a little more nerdy at the computer,
then these computer glasses are good.
It could save your eyes.
It could be helpful to you to reduce eye strain is what I heard this is the best.
Next one I'm interested in also is called Trekz Air.
These are cool.
These are like jawbone like headphones.
They're wireless headphones, but they're open ear.
Basically, they transmit the sound through your jawbone, which is pretty dang cool, especially—I
don’t know about you, but when I'm sitting at the computer and I'm listening to headphones
or when I have headphones in for a long time, it tends to hurt my ears.
I like this idea, especially if you're out and about and doing stuff, or especially for
programmers who I think because—like if you're listening to podcasts while you're
coding, you kind of want to be able to hear what's going around as well.
I like this idea of not shutting out all the sound and having that jawbone transmission.
It seems like a pretty cool technology.
Along with that, I'll say that AirPods are another major one.
I got my pair of AirPods.
Thanks to Noah Kagan.
He actually sent me this after I did an interview with him.
He's an awesome.
I wish I can meet him for lunch this week, but AirPods I've really enjoyed.
I felt like these are really, really cool, just the fact that they can just automatically
connect to your phone, that you can pull them out and it stops to play, that you don’t
have any wires.
They're really good, they charged the battery.
I've already done a review on this.
I'm not going to go into all the details, but AirPods definitely a good gift.
Okay, next.
Echo.
The Amazon Echo.
Hopefully, it doesn’t come alive now, but why.
Why is this a good developer gift?
Because you can program it now and you can create your own Amazon apps for it, which
is pretty cool.
I have one of these in every room of my house just because I use it so much.
It's cool.
It plays music, all that kind of stuff.
It's a cool one, like I said, for programmers because Amazon has come up with this program
where you can basically create new features for it and it's kind of fun.
It has a really good API and stuff.
It's a good gift based on that.
Next, PowerCore 20100.
This is a huge, huge by Anker.
It's a huge power pack that allows you to charge, I think it was like an iPhone like
eight times or something like that.
Really, really big battery, but really small profile which is really important.
This is probably—I travel a lot, I would definitely appreciate something like this.
I'm always using chargers.
Speaking of chargers, the next one I have is the Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad.
The reason why I put this one on here is because both the Pixel 2 and the Apple iPhone 10 have—as
well, I think, the iPhone 8 also has wireless charging capability now.
Having wireless charging is cool, but you need a wireless charging pad.
If you know someone who got an iPhone 10, this is a good gift.
It's not too expensive.
It's more in the $50 range and you can let them be able to charge their iPhone wirelessly.
Okay?
With that, another similar gift or a gift to pair with this is called the Juice Pack
Air, which is an iPhone case that is a battery as well that doubles the battery life of the
iPhone, but it also has wireless charging capability.
If you had an older iPhone, you could buy this and you could put it on there or you
can just double it up and wirelessly charge your iPhone in the extra battery.
I travel a lot.
This is something that I'd actually like as a gift because when I travel, maybe I'd like
to switch my case from my default case that I have to the battery pack case so I don’t
have to carry a battery pack in my pocket.
I realize how annoying it is trying to carry an extra battery pack.
It would be better to just have it as the case.
Maybe the phone is a little heavier, maybe a little bulkier while you've got that, but
big deal.
All right, next up, I know this was really cool, Ultra 400 gigabyte UHS-I Micro SDXC.
This is a micro SD card.
I don’t have one here, but here's the adapter.
A micro SD card, 400 gigabytes.
This is insane.
You can put a lot of data on a 400 gigabyte micro SD card.
Again, this is kind of one of those geeky gifts, but it's something that I think would
be kind of cool to have because you've got all of that data capability on such a small
device.
A good gift idea.
Next, Fallout: The Board Game.
This was cool.
This is something I'd like to have is—I'm a big fan of Fallout.
Fallout: The Board Game seems pretty cool.
I'd like to play it.
I haven't tried it out, but it seems really cool.
That's my main list and then I'm going to give you a couple of other ideas here.
Obviously, I have to promote some of my own stuff.
Definitely, every software developer should have a copy of The Complete Software Developer's
Career Guide.
It's an 800-page book.
You can beat someone with it.
I've also got a Kindle version and the audio version is coming out.
This is a nice, nice gift, of course.
I also have Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual, which is also another book that
I wrote that is obviously a good Christmas gift.
Then let's talk about some courses here.
I'll put that away later.
I've got 10 Steps to Learn Anything Quickly course.
This one is a good gift.
Anyone who is a programmer and needs to learn things quickly, I would recommend obviously
getting a gift from Simple Programmer.
Then also, How to Market Yourself As A Software Developer is another good gift for any software
developer to learn how to market themselves to build a blog, to boost their career and
to build a personal brand.
Those are all the gifts that I have for this year.
If you've got an idea of a gift that I didn’t put on here that you'd like to see on your
list obviously, you can link it or not link it.
Just put a comment below and let me know.
If you have one of these that you really like that you're like, "Yeah.
This is an awesome gift" that I mentioned here.
Go ahead and leave a comment.
I want to hear it.
Like I said, look for—go to simpleprogrammer.com.
Check out the blog and this video—like the transcript of this with all of the actual
links and everything.
We'll be there so you can share that.
Every year, I do one of these posts.
Hopefully, you've enjoyed the one this year and hopefully Santa Claus is good to you.
Hopefully, you've been on the nicest and you get some of these.
Maybe you get that MacBook Pro in your stocking.
All right, that's all I got for you today.
Make sure you click the Subscribe button if you haven't already and click the bell so
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I'll talk to you next time.
Take care.