As a developer, how important to you that you have the choice of tools/platforms to do your job?

I've worked on some companies that don't give a damn as long as you get the job done, while some frown upon it because they haven't tried anything other than what they have and are skeptical. Some are completely locked because their products are platform specific so it makes sense for dev to work on the same platform.

Thoughts?

If they have a nice connected, pre-built environment with shared resources it's fine, but I will not write in notepad++ because some idiot thinks it looks much cleaner. :D

My choice of tools or my choice of new employers. Plain and simple.

If I can’t customize my workflow, I don’t want to work because things are constantly irritating me and slowing me down. I would attribute every minor annoyance and inconvenience directly to the people who insist I experience them, and hate said people for it.

I’m less picky with OS, though I don’t think I would use Windows anymore, even if it was mandatory. Linux or Mac. I’m not terribly happy with Mac, either; the shortcuts and lack of customizability are annoying.

A few years back I refused a job iffer because they wanted me to use a mac. Now I'm working at a comoany who only uses mac (me included). Though I do have my favorite set of tools, but unless what the comoany provides is useful - I don't really care. That said I'm mostly working for companies who let the team decide what they want to use, deploy, how to deploy and where to deploy.

If I was stuck with Windows (with no need to use Windows-specific software) or were forced to use tools that aren't aligned with my preferences then => new employer.

I'll rather not go for roles where Windows is required. But as long as I'm free to use whatever the flip I want as terminal, IDE/code editor, graphics editor and browser, then I'm fine using Windows (provided the machine isn't shit).

Best summary of my thoughts too. @root