Ask HN: How do you set up a new dev machine? (2025 edition)
Thank you!
Thank you!
(Used to do Jekyll, currently using Hugo on Github pages, but I'm thinking of switching to Gatsby since I know more React than Go, so it's harder for me to make changes).
Any other devs feel this way? Do you guys do self-improvement things too? I'm thinking of making a site or a blog or whatever medium works because I suffered from lack of motivation, depression, etc in some of my years as a dev. Something like good programmer habits or things we can take from other fields, not just personal development.
How did you get better, aside from the whole keep on trying stuff out/experimenting? I'll put in the work, just looking for some learning optimization (books, Youtube channel, whatever) if any exists.
For people who've dived into the AWS cert, or structured learning, is it worth it? The cert is not the most important thing (though I'll do my best to pass the exam if or when I take it in the future), what matters is that I gain the skillz, but I do want some sort of roadmap/structure, and I imagine some other devs think the same.
In the past few months, I've written a lot of drafts, but it's so hard to publish posts. I just can't get sentence construction (for now, I hope). I have a structure of points I want to make, but I somehow just keep on writing the same boring sentences. Any actionable tips, books, blogs, whatever to help?
--- For me it's these:
- Watching DHH/the video that introduced me to Rails. I was a student coding in PHP/CodeIgniter, and it blew my mind re: the speed at which things got done. (Now, not so much, hehe.) - Watching [Destroy All Software](https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/), I think that was the first time I saw someone with a high mastery of the Vim editor, and the first time I saw someone write tests/talk about app/class design. The next week, I was pulling my hair out trying to learn Vim. - Non-programming: [Cracked article on harsh truths.](cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/) I read that several years ago, and every year I try to add a new skill to learn. It's still my auto-complete when I type in "cr" on my browser.
I'm asking because I've been more productive these past weeks since I completely blocked out social media on my machine and I put my phone in another room during work hours, and I should have done that years ago. :(