Software Engineering: Best Productivity Tools to Use

Last Updated on 2024-10-11

The software engineering industry needs to adapt along to today’s technological breakthroughs. And so, we’ve gathered the top productivity tools for software engineers. They will find these tools useful when managing their daily tasks and projects.

Yes, it’s no secret that technology plays a pivotal role in most industries today. And software engineering is no alien to this. In recent years, we’ve seen the growth in adoption for tech trends like mobile application, cloud, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality. 

Hence, a significant challenge for software engineers rests upon staying updated with these trends. So, how do they stay on top without getting overwhelmed with all the latest technologies? 

Short answer—productivity tools. Generally, productivity tools help software engineers manage their work more efficiently. Also, it provides them with robust solutions to business needs. So, if you’re looking to streamline your software processes, take note of these tools.

Best Software Engineering Tools to Boost Productivity

Overall, these are the productivity tools that can help software engineers improve their productivity at work.

Github

Touted as the most advanced and popular web-based hosting service, GitHub has one of the largest communities of developers and companies on its platform. In fact, it boasts over 65 million developers and 3 million organizations on its platform. Here, members can create, maintain, and deliver the best software.

Think of GitHub as an all-in-one place for coding and collaborative tools for software processes. With its Collaborative Coding feature, users can seamlessly build projects on a cloud environment setup. Moreover, you can review code and see any changes with its automated status checks. 

Generally, these are the noteworthy features on GitHub:

• Reliable security for code vulnerabilities
• Quick and consistent integration with all connected devices 
• Robust CI/CD (Continuous integration and continuous delivery)
• Streamlined project management tools
• Simplified access and permissions for user and team management
• Active community to learn new skills or get financial support for projects 

Jira

Another crowd favorite, Jira is one of the popular tools in the software engineering community. For the uninitiated, Jira is an Atlassian-owned agile development tool for software teams. It’s an excellent choice for teams to plan, track issues, organize software releases, and create visual reports. 

In a nutshell, these are Jira’s standout features:

• Task management and process automation with just a few clicks 
• Customizable scrum boards for iterative and incremental changes 
• Flexible Kanban boards for complete project visibility 
• Instant Roadmap view to get a snapshot of team’s projects 
• Access to several real-time reports and actionable insights 
• See code deployment status instantly using Jira software

Codenvy

Basically, Codenvy is a cloud workspace for developing and debugging applications. It provides an open-source server and a DevOps environment for individual and team collaboration. 

Moreover, it is built on Eclipse Che. It’s the top open-source cloud integrated development environment (IDE). In 2017, they were acquired by Red Hat. As a result, their acquisition allowed them to reach millions of developers worldwide.

Generally, Codenvy’s core capabilities include:

• Automated one-click Docker environment for developing workspaces that contain projects and tools 
• Powerful onboarding and collaboration with multiple users
• Manage and scale workspaces efficiently with customizable infrastructure
• Access projects from different locations or devices 
• Create a public code portfolio that anyone can run
• Streamline contributions from the community   

Slack

Slack is not only exclusive to software engineering teams. In fact, Marketing, Sales, Human Resources, or virtually everyone in the company can use this platform for team communication.

With Slack, you can do so many things. Essentially, you can send chat messages, initiate video meetings or work with teams from other companies.  

Yes, we know by now how receiving emails daily can be distracting. Hence, Slacks helps you filter out the noise by allowing you to create channels for specific purposes.

Say, you need a chat group with the software engineers working on a particular project. On Slack, you can create a private channel and invite only the people involved in this project. 

You’ll find these and a host of other nifty features on Slack:

• Chat, voice calls, and video conferences 
• Over 2,400 app integration such as Office 365, Google Drive, Salesforce  
• Workflow Builder lets you automate routine tasks; no coding needed
• Share documents within a conversation
• Powerful search for conversation history saves time for repetitive questions
• Enterprise Key Management allows companies control, visibility, and access to encrypt messages and files.

Stack Overflow

If you’re a true-blue software engineer, then you’ve probably heard about Stack Overflow. It’s a site for software experts and neophytes. Essentially, it helps members improve their technical knowledge, engage with other members, and discover their next career. 

Moreover, it’s a forum for anyone to find and contribute answers to coding questions. Companies may also opt for a private collaboration and a SaaS platform for knowledge sharing. Typically, their active users are students and professionals in the tech industry. 

Additionally, individual users may opt to use their free plan. However, we recommend business users upgrade to a Business or Enterprise Plan. This is so that they can get the advanced tools and priority customer support.

Aside from its rich library of information, these features make them stand out:

• Employer Branding Solution – build your brand and share your company’s story to attract the best talent. 
• Job listing – no recruitment spams or fake job lists on this site 
• Advertising Solutions – promote your brand or products to its millions of active visitors. 
• Build Free or Private Teams to share technical knowledge and other disciplines. 

Adobe Dreamweaver CC

Adobe Dreamweaver CC is well-known among design professionals. However, it’s also a tool used in the software engineering industry.

Essentially, it’s an all-inclusive application to build, manage, and publish responsive websites and mobile apps. For freelancers or teams, this is the perfect solution to create beautiful and dynamic web designs. 

All in all, these features make Adobe Dreamweaver CC a must-have for all things web design:

• Intelligent and simplified coding engine – create and manage code, and edit HTML, CSS, and other web technologies
• Customize your About page, blogs, Product page, and portfolio using its Startup Templates 
• Responsive Web Design – build responsive websites that adjust to any screen size. Additionally, you can preview and edit the pages before publishing
• Clutter-free interface – create a workspace that shows only the tools you need 
• Git Support – Access and manage all source code inside Adobe Dreamweaver within the Git panel.

It All Starts with the Right Tools

As software engineers, having the right skills and the best tools is essential to a successful software project. These software engineering tools are by no means exhaustive. However, they have compelling features that make one’s daily tasks and overall goals manageable.

Before signing up for a premium account, we suggest that you take advantage of free trials if any. Doing so allows you to test these tools before investing time, money, and effort in training the team.

While these tools are essential, you still need skilled people to use them. At Full Scale, we have a vast pool of software engineers to build software for your business. From recruitment to job onboarding, we help founders create their software team—quickly and affordably. 

So, send us a message to receive your FREE CONSULTATION. We’ll help you match with our world-class software remote teams!