So it's the last week before Christmas and I still haven't bought anything for my friend Dave, who is exactly the kind of person who will absolutely notice if you get him a bad gift. Dave writes Rails by day and complains about Rails by night, which I think describes about 40% of the people I know. Anyway, I ended up putting together a whole list for the developer-shaped people in my life, and figured I'd just post it instead of texting six different people the same links.
The keyboard thing
Look, I resisted the mechanical keyboard thing for a long time because I thought it was just nerd fashion, like fountain pens for programmers. Then I actually typed on a buddy's Das Keyboard Model S back in the spring and now I get it. The click is addictive in a way that's hard to explain to someone who's only ever used a laptop keyboard or one of those mushy $15 Dell ones. The Model S runs about $130, and there's also the "Ultimate" version with blank keycaps that I would never buy because I still look at my hands when I type, but some people love it for exactly that reason. If $130 feels steep for a gift, Filco makes the Majestouch line too, usually a bit cheaper depending on where you find it. Either way, if the developer in your life spends 8+ hours a day typing, this is not a frivolous gift. This is basically ergonomic equipment.
Books that aren't garbage
I hate giving programming books as gifts because 90% of them are outdated the second they're printed, but there are a few that hold up. "The Pragmatic Programmer" by Hunt and Thomas is still the one I recommend to anyone starting out, even though it's from 1999 at this point, because it's about how to think, not which framework to use. If your friend is more the tinkerer type, Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" is short, funny, and will make them insufferable about bad UI design at every restaurant website from now on. Sorry in advance to whoever has to hear about it.
I'd also throw in a paper notebook, which sounds like a joke gift but every developer I know who's any good at their job carries one. Field Notes memo books run about $10 for a three-pack. Cheap, small, fits in a jacket pocket, doesn't need batteries or a software update.
Gadgets, but be careful here
This is where it gets tricky because the tech gift market right now is a minefield. Everybody and their cousin has an opinion about the Kindle Fire ($199, came out last month) and honestly it's fine, it's a decent little tablet for reading and video, but if your friend already has an iPad don't bother, it'll just sit in a drawer. I got one for my mom, not for a developer friend, and it's been fine for what she uses it for, which is mostly browsing recipe sites and watching Grey's Anatomy reruns.
A USB drive with actual capacity is a boring but appreciated gift too — 16GB drives are cheap now, and every developer I know has lost at least one and needs a replacement. A good multi-port USB hub is another one of those "not exciting but genuinely useful" gifts, especially now that everybody's got a phone, an external drive, and a mouse all fighting for the same two ports on their laptop.
I will say, skip anything with a mic built in that streams data back to who-knows-where. After the whole Carrier IQ mess blowing up over the last few weeks, my more paranoid friends (Dave included) are extremely twitchy about anything that phones home without asking. Read the reviews before you buy, is all I'm saying.
Stocking stuffer tier
- A pack of good stickers for the laptop lid. Doesn't matter which ones, developers love slapping logos on their laptops like NASCAR cars.
- A cheap laptop stand, the kind that just tilts the thing up 15 degrees so you're not hunched over a coffee table.
- Coffee. Just, good coffee. Whole bean, from an actual roaster, not the stuff in the red can.
I ended up getting Dave the Field Notes and a bag of coffee beans from the place near my apartment, because I'm cheap and also because I already know he'll spend his own money on the keyboard eventually anyway. He always does.