What technologies are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?The annual Thanksgiving holiday is tomorrow. Often when we think about this day, the first things that come to mind are food, friends, family, and football. Here at Smashing Boxes, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the technologies for which we are grateful and what makes them so useful. Here's a list of technologies from the SB team that we know you'll gobble up!
Chris Baker, Senior Software Engineer, Principal
I'm grateful for VSCode. In my career, it is easily the best Integrated Development Environment (IDE) I’ve used. They balanced speed, functionality, features, and just general language support in a way that allows me to get more work done, faster. That, and they are continually rolling in new updates that I’ve found useful with just about every release.
Eloisa Docton, UX/UI Designer
I am grateful for all of these emerging design tools that have hit the market this year! While I’m still learning some of them, my go-to for some time has been SKETCH. Sketch is a super simple and powerful tool that allows me to apply drama to my designs instead of my day!
Matt Wood, Senior Mobile Application Engineer, Principal
I’m grateful for the trend of making everything “smart” inside the home. I’m low-key scared of the dark, and, coming home to my lights on or having the ability to turn them on through my car stereo is DOPE! Now all I need is to find an easy way to convert my oven so I can preheat it on the way home from work.
Cori Dymond, UX/UI Designer
This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for AMAZON ALEXA and Alexa Connected Devices because of all of the small luxuries it adds to my life, like: waking up to the music of my choice, my light dimmer turned on, the coffee starting in the mornings, and a daily rundown of the weather, news, and sports recaps. SMART HOME TECHNOLOGY continues to make my life easier!
Geoff Register, Software Engineer
It’s nearly impossible to choose a single technology for which I am the most thankful unless it’s a broad tool like a computer or the internet. But, here is one I’m especially thankful for lately: keyboard shortcuts/navigation. I’m learning and practicing new techniques every week (like creating multi-cursors, option/command arrow navigation, option clicking the cursor to appear anywhere on the command line, etc.) and I’m finding myself becoming incrementally more efficient with my workflow. When I see others who have these techniques on lockdown and I can see how quickly they flip around their virtual environments, I’m left inspired to learn more.
Swain Molster, Mobile Application Engineer
I’m thankful for FASTLANE. Fastlane makes automating the build, testing, and deployment process for mobile apps SO easy. I don’t know how I lived without it for so long!
Steven Thacker, Account Executive
I’m grateful for messaging technologies like SLACK, TEXTRA, etc. These tools help me stay in touch with friends and former colleagues up and down the East coast. They also facilitate collaboration with my brilliant colleagues at Smashing Boxes to help drive the business forward.
Walter Pinson, VP of Strategy, Blockchain Practice Lead
I am thankful for the BODYSPACE App. I use this app more consistently than any other app on my phone. It helps me track my training sessions and it lets me build a catalog of training routines. Above all, it gamifies fitness and it keeps me motivated and on track. Additionally, there is a social media component that allows me to motivate and receive motivation from my friends.
(For more on gamified fitness, check out how we’re helping fight childhood obesity with the SQORD mobile app and wearable.)
This Thanksgiving, what technology or tool are you most thankful for?
