5 Gift Ideas for the Technologist in Your Life

by Heather Malec on February 14, 2019

Skip the guides for dog-lovers and coffee-drinkers. This Valentine’s Day we are celebrating the sometimes hard-to-shop-for technologist. Here are a few gift ideas from the Spanning Backup team.

Solo Keys
Matthew McDermott, Principal Technical Marketing Engineer

My current favorite gift that says “I Care” and “Your Security Matters” to my loved ones is a new FIDO2 Security Key from Solo Keys (https://shop.solokeys.com/). The device is a hardware key that can plug into Windows or Mac machines as well as certain mobile devices and can help secure Facebook, Twitter, GitHub, and soon Windows itself. This key will help protect your loved ones from getting their accounts taken over even if they fall victim to a phishing scheme.

The way two-factor authentication works is a login from a “new device” will prompt the person to insert their Solo Key before gaining access. This is a gift from the heart that will help prevent the heartbreak of losing control of a social media account on the most popular social media day of the year!

Go Overboard on Logo Cuteness
Heather Malec, Corporate Communications Director

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Many developers already love and use Docker. And seriously, who can resist that adorable whale? We all know how much [water] developers drink, so a Docker-themed water bottle would come in handy. Or they can cover their laptop with cuteness combined with tech-savviness. You can buy all these Docker items in their CafePress store.

Also scoring high on the cuteness factor is the GitHub Octocat. Chances are your Valentine techie may have one of these whiskery-cuties on her/his laptop already, but there are plenty of new sticker packs out there sure to make the rest of the team jealous.

Raspberry Pi for Dessert
Brian Rutledge, Principal Security Manager

Give your Valentine something to build with a Raspberry Pi. When finished, he or she can set up a VPN for safer Internet surfing. And when was the last time a developer actually had the chance to build something by hand?

Cool apps!
Lori Witzel, Senior Product Marketing Manager and Salesforce MVP

We all know Salesforce admins love the AppExchange for work – but what about apps just for fun? I see more than a few Salesforce admins and developers using What The Forecast?!! and Instagram or Snapchat selfie effects. For the gamers in your admin circles, you might try the puzzle game 2048 (Android and iOS).

Since a lot of my friends in the #SalesforceOhana like to geek out over astronomy and space science, you might want to take a look at NASA’s assortment of apps. For those who are all about the outdoors, check out Audubon’s wonderful birding app and the AllTrails app.

Refactoring: Second Edition by Martin Fowler
Morag Keirns, VP of Marketing

This definitive read for those technologists who are passionate about continuously improving the design and maintainability of code (and isn’t that all of us) got a refresh last year and belongs on your Valentine’s bookshelf … or at least prominently displayed in their workspace. This updated version brings a fresh perspective to reflect the changes in the programming landscape over the last 20 years. It explains the principles of refactoring and how to spot code that needs refactoring.

Here’s a free chapter to get a taste. Or you can order a digital copy from InformIt so it never gets stale.

Happy Valentine’s Day from Spanning!

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