Episode 63- David Gatti on Development Setups and Environments

David Gatti and Arsalan Ahmed are back with a discussion you won’t want to miss! David and Arsalan share their deepest secrets on which products work best and why they like them and use them over some of the others. Be sure to listen in to episode 63 and hear what they have to say.
 
David’s Bio:
David Gatti began his career in IT as a Systems Administrator. He learned how to code in PHP out of boredom, and made some simple internal tools to help him while managing the company network.
He then became a blogger and wrote about mobile technologies before the iPhone came into existence and PDAs had cellular modems. He also wrote the CMS for the website itself when WordPress was first starting. Then he began working as a web developer for a company that did simple Facebook games.
After this initial experience, he imported a Windows Mobile app to Android 2.3. He later became a Brand Manager for a mobile game company and a Marketing Director for another company, and at that company – he transitioned to Developer Relations Manager and worked for two companies with this title. It was a job that he fell in love with.
But, while hunting for his next opportunity, he struggled to find the right company. Out of frustration, he created Simpe.li (simply) so he could keep doing what he does best – Development Relations Management done right.
Episode Highlights and Show Notes:
Arsalan: Hi everyone, this is your host Arsalan Ahmed and today I have David Gatti with us. David, how are you?
David: Hey, Arsalan. How are you? I’m good.
Arsalan: It’s really good to have you back. Now you are hanging out in Italy.
David: Yes, I am in sunny Italy. Good wine and better food.
Arsalan: Wow. We are all jealous right now.
David: You can come and visit me, so, no worries.
Arsalan: Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. We are here to talk about our development setups, our environment that we are going to create to write code, to do our work. Why is that important, David?
David: I think that if you have a set up that you understand and it is simple and you have everything that you need to work, and then you don’t have to think about it. You can just focus on working. I was always trying to come up with a set up that makes sense since forever. I think that last month I was finally able to put everything together in a way that makes me happy and is super clear and very simple. So, now I can just work and not think about my backups, my continuation or what my application I need or any of that stuff.
Arsalan: I see this as a uniform way of doing work. You probably have multiple projects, in this case, for different clients and you work in completely different items. So, if there is one single thing that you can say is a constant, something that you know that you can depend on it, trust in, and know which tools exist, and which you are good at them over time. It is going to take the uncertainty out of it instead of starting from scratch in every project and having to learn new tools. You want to work the way the client works. For instance, many times we go on clients’ sites or their offices and then we are handed a computer. So, we have to use their computer the way that they’ve set it up. That happens to a lot of people.
David: Okay. Good point.
Arsalan: But if you have a choice, then you’d rather use your own computer because you know how things are set up and you know how you can be efficient and how you can actually get some enjoyment out of your work. What are some of the different types of things to consider when you are preparing your set up?
David: Right now I’m just going to explain my set up. I never had a situation where a client gave me something that I had to work with, thankfully. My main goal is not to worry about anything. I could lose my laptop or have my laptop stolen or throw it out the window, it doesn’t matter.

Episode source