In an effort to explore the talent in our community, Devanooga is doing a “How I Work” series of articles akin to the series Lifehacker produced in the 2010s. If you would like to be a part of the series, submit a PR with the questions answered or contact one of our moderators.

Name

Sean Brewer

Devanooga username

s e a b r e

Occupation

senior software engineer

Location

Ringgold, GA

Current daily computer

Dell XPS 15, stonesoup-style homelab, android

Current mobile device

Samsung Galaxy S9+

One word that best describes how I work:

simple

What apps, software, and/or tools can’t you live without?

tmux, vim, termux, GNU-flavored POSIX utilities (m4 is underrated), netcat, mitmproxy, ohmyzsh, postgres, sqlite, nmap, dig, vyos, emacs/org mode, wireguard, probably more I’m forgetting.

What is your best time-saving shortcut or lifehack?

Acquire the nicest office chair you can possibly get.

What is your workspace setup like?

Roost laptop stand, Herman Miller customized Mirra V2, homelab (favorite being my sun x3-2l even though it stays powered down most of the time b/c it’s loud)

What do you listen to while you work?

hella, frank zappa, sungazer, podcasts

What everyday thing are you better at than everyone else? What’s your secret?

i am really good at figuring out how to simulate conditions and environments for testing and experimenting or solving problems

What is the best advice you have ever received?

shut the f*&@ up

What is some advice you would give to yourself earlier in your career?

startup culture is dumb. boring tech is fine. sleep more.

Anything else you would like to add?

i’m sorry i don’t have pics of my stuff, but it’s currently a mess because of prepping for kid 2.