The 33¢ Daily Subscription That Makes Me a Better Programmer
Changing perspectives can help you evaluate the perceived value.
I can’t believe in an era of free and open-source tools such as Visual Studio Code, I’m paying for an integrated development environment. Yet, here I am, happily giving out 33¢ daily for JetBrains’ WebStorm.
Is it worth it? Well, it depends.
The Non-negotiable Feature
It all reduces to the non-negociale feature(s).
Both are capable IDEs and help you get your job done:
WebStorm comes with many functionalities out of the box, while VS Code is more lightweight but customizable with a vast library of extensions.
WebStorm supports extensions, but its library is more limited, while VS Code requires more time to set up the plugins to fit your needs.
Not to mention that WebStorm is a resource-intensive tool, while VS Code is faster and lighter.
For the free price tag, you could argue that VS Code is a no-brainer decision.
However, despite these trade-offs, WebStorm’s standout feature—its advanced code analysis and refactoring—justifies my investment.
Reframe to Evaluate the Perceived Value
The annual subscription for WebStorm costs €82.111. However, considering there are about 250 working days every year, excluding days off and vacation time, it only costs me 33¢ per day.
The best part is that it gets cheaper in the second year and even more affordable from the third year forward, 26¢ and, respectively, 20¢.
But why should I care about my yearly payment or the daily cost calculation?
Reframing the cost helps me better evaluate the perceived value. While it doesn’t eliminate cognitive biases, it offers a fresh perspective.
The annual price gives me a clear picture of the impact on cash flow and how it adds to my other major expenses.
Knowing the daily price, I can ask myself: Does this feature save me enough time and effort each day to justify 33¢? Considering how much time I spent renaming, extracting methods, and introducing variables, and that now I can do all this much faster across the entire project with minimal risk of breaking code, I think, yes, for me, it is worth the 33¢.
Zooming In and Out
This change of perspective gives us different angles on analyzing a problem. However, it doesn’t come naturally, as we are biased when making decisions. We usually get emotionally attached to our non-negotiable features.
We want them; sometimes, it’s enough to justify their worth.
Zooming in and zooming out is a great tool for shifting perspectives. It’s like switching between two physical lenses: a macro lens to see close-up details and a wide lens to see the entire picture. Each lens provides different kinds of details.
In 2018, I decided to treat myself to a great coffee every day for the entire year. Zooming in on the daily costs, I thought it was worth it: €1,25 for an excellent cappuccino was a great bargain.
However, zooming out after one year of consuming premium-quality coffee, I realized that, although not that expensive, it affected my experience with coffee. I reached a point where I couldn’t enjoy the coffee at home or the office. It destroyed the non-negotiable aspect of coffee—to enjoy it—so I decided it was not worth it anymore.
Now, I enjoy a great cappuccino when I share good times with a friend. It's totally worth it.
What tools or features you can’t live without? How do you decide if they’re worth it? Share your thoughts; I’d love to hear how you evaluate your non-negotiables.
—Alex