My Everyday Carry as a Junior Developer
about edc
Recently, I got really drawn into the every-day carry (EDC) subculture. It's about collecting things you're going to carry around to school, university, work, or any other place for that matter, ranging from sling bags to carabiners to pocket knives. I just happened to come across so many videos on YouTube that I got inspired enough to write a blog post–so here is my EDC as a 19-year-old Junior Software Engineer living in Tokyo, Japan.
my edc
card holder
This is the Hugo Boss Grained-leather card holder I got gifted by Aisultan, a friend of mine, on my 18th birthday. I never really received gifts from my friends, so this one was very touching for me, and I've been using this card holder ever since. Inside, there's my ID, the Pasmo transit card, and a couple of credit cards.
wallet
In April, I got sent to California for almost 2 weeks for a work trip. Our company's got into StartX, and it was the last weeks of the program. I was lucky to participate in dozens of events constantly moving around the entirety of SoCal. On my final day, at the airport I was rushing to get some accessories and this wallet caught my eye. It:
- has a lot of pockets
- screams
SAN FRANCISCO, so I knew I had to get it.
earbuds
On the top left, you can see Airpods 3 Lightning. I hadn't spent a cent on these too–I won them at a hackathon as a first place prize in 2024. They're a lifesaver in terms of privacy; I share an apartment with two other Kazakhs and I often have calls with coworkers, family, friends etc. I still have to be careful with what I talk about, but the other party can now feel comfortable speaking whatever's there to talk about. Only if it had a USB-C port :( would be an absolute perfection.
watch
On the bottom left, I placed Casio A158W. I'm a huge fan of cheap, retro-style, long-lasting watches, and when it comes to Casio, people usually mention the F-91W model, and I feel like the model on the photo is quite underrated. For about $20, you get the same digital components and buttons and a metal strap that looks much cleaner as opposed to F-91W's resin strap. I set its alarm in addition to my phone's to 7:30AM and boy do they make a concert in the morning. Just an amazing item that fits every style, everyday.
laptop
This wouldn't be a tech bro's edc stack without a MacBook. On the right side, you can see MacBook Air M4 Midnight 512GB. Before that, I used to have an M1 model, but then I noticed that it started struggling to run several Claude Code sessions at once, and this was the call to upgrade. I saved money from my salary for a couple of months and was finally able to buy it with a student discount at Apple Store Shinjuku.
powerbank
Not gonna lie, I just bought it today. All these videos online have hypnotized me into getting an Anker Nano Powerbank 5000mAh. It's a great addition to my collection and a good starting point for researching the rest of potential EDC items. Sure will save my life one day.
bag
Time to give some credit to the bag that stores it all. This is the Uniqlo Utility Shoulder Bag. It's waterproof, has some structure, has convenient pockets and compartments and is hella cheap! This black one fits any style and I can walk through Tokyo streets all day without the fear of not having enough space.
anything else?
I like reading but I don't like carrying an extra kilo of books everywhere–either this or I just don't have enough space for storing books at home. So buying a Kindle reader is my goal for the next month.
Also looking to get a handkerchief to wipe my sweat during the upcoming brutally hot days of summer.
Also liked the idea of carrying around a multitool swiss army knife, but turns out it's forbidden here, so I dropped this idea immediately.