Ask HN: What subscription services are worth paying for IT professional
O'Reilly seems expensive
Educative?
Coursera?
Brilliant?
34 comments
I'm a tightwad, so for me to pay a recurring fee, the software must continually improve or provide immense value to my life.
To that end, here's what I pay for ordered most favorite to least:
Cronometer - https://cronometer.com/
BitWarden - https://bitwarden.com/
FastMail - https://www.fastmail.com/
Grammarly - https://grammarly.com/
Raindrop - https://raindrop.io/
Adobe Photoshop, but not for photoshop, but for image hosting.
If I decide to trim my budget, Photoshop is going first. But raindrop is a close second. It's really expensive for what it does, but it is so far the best way I've found to keep bookmarks sorted between multiple Linux, iOS, and Windows machines.
To that end, here's what I pay for ordered most favorite to least:
Cronometer - https://cronometer.com/
BitWarden - https://bitwarden.com/
FastMail - https://www.fastmail.com/
Grammarly - https://grammarly.com/
Raindrop - https://raindrop.io/
Adobe Photoshop, but not for photoshop, but for image hosting.
If I decide to trim my budget, Photoshop is going first. But raindrop is a close second. It's really expensive for what it does, but it is so far the best way I've found to keep bookmarks sorted between multiple Linux, iOS, and Windows machines.
> Grammarly - https://grammarly.com/
An expensive keylogger that has little to no privacy concerns. There are better options.
An expensive keylogger that has little to no privacy concerns. There are better options.
Well, let me put it this way. I have "concerns" about Grammarly. Because of that, I don't use the browser plugin or keyboard apps. I use it through the web app to proofread things I publish publicly anyway.
You say there are better options, like what? I've tried others, and I've found nothing as good as Grammarly.
You say there are better options, like what? I've tried others, and I've found nothing as good as Grammarly.
> You say there are better options, like what?
LanguageTool
LanguageTool
What do you like about Cronometer over other calorie trackers? Looking for a similar thing myself...
Also Bitwarden, why that instead of 1password or Lastpass or anything else?
Also Bitwarden, why that instead of 1password or Lastpass or anything else?
I haven't used other trackers, so I can't compare them there.
I love that Cronometer has a paid option that kills ads. They're constantly improving their database of foods. The app works on Android/iOS, and a web app works everywhere else. And it intregrates nicely with Apple health (and other similar things).
I have been using Cronometer for four years now; between tracking what I eat and getting regular bloodwork done to test vitamin/mineral levels, I am living a much healthier life than I used to.
I love that Cronometer has a paid option that kills ads. They're constantly improving their database of foods. The app works on Android/iOS, and a web app works everywhere else. And it intregrates nicely with Apple health (and other similar things).
I have been using Cronometer for four years now; between tracking what I eat and getting regular bloodwork done to test vitamin/mineral levels, I am living a much healthier life than I used to.
> Also Bitwarden, why that instead of 1password or Lastpass or anything else?
Disclaimer: Not Op. Entirely my personal experience, not affiliated with any of these.
Being a long-time user of Lastpass, their browser-extension is resource heavy and the clients are immensely clunky. 1Password has neat UI but suffers clunkiness of Lastpass.
Bitwarden is light-weight(client, extension, mobile app), does everything well, has most of the features of other two and very cheap($10/year). Their UI is not the prettiest, but UX is superb.
Disclaimer: Not Op. Entirely my personal experience, not affiliated with any of these.
Being a long-time user of Lastpass, their browser-extension is resource heavy and the clients are immensely clunky. 1Password has neat UI but suffers clunkiness of Lastpass.
Bitwarden is light-weight(client, extension, mobile app), does everything well, has most of the features of other two and very cheap($10/year). Their UI is not the prettiest, but UX is superb.
JetBrains, O’Reilly subscription
1Password or any other password management application.
Domain name[s] and a decent/minimal host that doesn't blackhole port 25 egress.
I wouldn’t say any are worth it inherently. There are a lot of good subscription services but what matters most is your tech stack, habits and needs.
For example, I haven’t found the per-language focused IDE approach of JetBrains to fit well with the multi-language architectures I commonly work on, and while I’ll watch Pluralsight courses I find I don’t read as much O’Reilly content even though it’s often something I get more out of.
End of the day, identify what you want to take away from things and focus on optimizing for your own mannerisms.
For example, I haven’t found the per-language focused IDE approach of JetBrains to fit well with the multi-language architectures I commonly work on, and while I’ll watch Pluralsight courses I find I don’t read as much O’Reilly content even though it’s often something I get more out of.
End of the day, identify what you want to take away from things and focus on optimizing for your own mannerisms.
This may be an unusual recommendation but a music subscription service such as Spotify, Tidal or Apple Music.
Music helps me personally to be way more productive when working on IT problems.
Music helps me personally to be way more productive when working on IT problems.
Navicat, SecureCRT, and Jet Brains.
What do you see in SecureCRT over something like MobaXTerm or Putty?
I like the window tiling and speed of SecureCRT.
https://pragmaticengineer.com/ newsletter for me was a fun investment.
another thing that I do, which is not a subscription for products, is putting money into opensource projects that I use. E.g. the terminal emulator, cli tools and some such. If they have patron or something I try and sign up or send one time sums.
Setapp, I get so much value out of the software available there each month. Im saving hundreds of dollars per year.
How has your experience with it been?
When I tried it a few months ago, it was a cool novelty, but over time I found that it helped me with the simplest use cases, but often messed up in subtle ways for more complex code -- i.e., it would produce code that looked right and worked, but had really subtle bugs. Not sure if I was using it wrong, or if it's getting better... definitely has promise, but is it ready for production use yet?
When I tried it a few months ago, it was a cool novelty, but over time I found that it helped me with the simplest use cases, but often messed up in subtle ways for more complex code -- i.e., it would produce code that looked right and worked, but had really subtle bugs. Not sure if I was using it wrong, or if it's getting better... definitely has promise, but is it ready for production use yet?
I tend to avoid writing complex code in production for various reasons. Of course if I ask copilot to write an new complex algorithm using my unique data structures in one try, it will not generate perfect code. But usually I try to go slowly line by line in these cases.
Copilot shines to write the boring easy code and help you line by line, but it’s not there yet for advanced unassisted programming.
Copilot shines to write the boring easy code and help you line by line, but it’s not there yet for advanced unassisted programming.
Pretty general but Todoist. I'd be a disorganized mess without it.
No subscriptions, but I do buy upgrades.
- I buy Udemy courses when they are on sale.
- JetBrains (Annual)
- MobaXTerm (Annual)
- Synergy (Once)
- Beyond Compare (Once)
- Total commander (Once)
- LinqPad (Major Upgrades)
- The Bat (Major Upgrades)
- Ashampoo Office (Much cheaper than MS Office)
- I buy Udemy courses when they are on sale.
- JetBrains (Annual)
- MobaXTerm (Annual)
- Synergy (Once)
- Beyond Compare (Once)
- Total commander (Once)
- LinqPad (Major Upgrades)
- The Bat (Major Upgrades)
- Ashampoo Office (Much cheaper than MS Office)
The usual ones:
- Jetbrains [1]
- Bitwarden
- Migadu (Email)
- Porkbun (domain)
- AWS (Hobby Projects)
That is all I can think of. Had netflix for a while, but didn’t feel the need, so stopped.
[1] Subsidised by employer.
[ Edit: Formatting ]
- Jetbrains [1]
- Bitwarden
- Migadu (Email)
- Porkbun (domain)
- AWS (Hobby Projects)
That is all I can think of. Had netflix for a while, but didn’t feel the need, so stopped.
[1] Subsidised by employer.
[ Edit: Formatting ]
Jetbrains, hosted email and calendar, health insurance, Netflix sometimes. But mostly Jetbrains.
JetBrains
The Microsoft action pack may be worth consider. Comes with significantly more azure credits than it costs and has various software included too ( with some usage restrictions )
The downside to discounted Microsoft software is that it's Microsoft software. Ignoring the security ramifications of same, should a startup begin life with such a ball-and-chain?
Azure can run Linux VMs just fine...
Hosting (both websites and VMs to run services on), domain names, and Office 365.