Item: IntelliJ IDEA
Rating: 10
Author: Animesh Kumar

Overall Satisfaction with IntelliJ IDEA

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use IntelliJ IDEA for software development, primarily in Java programming. Our organization has product offerings, which are essentially SaaS products, so software development is the core of our organization. It is of utmost importance for my organization to be efficient in doing software development and, at the same time, not compromise on the security and quality of the code. IntelliJ IDEA makes this process much more convenient by providing a comprehensive environment where developers can write code, integrate the project with a database, develop pipelines, etc. One doesn't need to leave the IDE(IntelliJ IDEA) for most of their development tasks, such as using shell, running unit tests, running the project, version control, etc. IntelliJ IDEA also has excellent support for plugins to further enhance developer productivity.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Project Navigation and finding usage.
Suggestions for improving code quality.
Local deployment of the application and integration with git, SONAR Lint.
Auto-completion.
Database connectivity, Terminal shell and other integrations.

Cons

Finding if a feature exists or not in IntelliJ IDEA can be challenging.
For example, if we know how to format a particular file, the command is Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L, but if we don't, then finding it is difficult.
Setting up a project interpreter and directory structure might not be intuitive at first.
Git integration can be improved. For example, it isn't easy to rebase using UI in IntelliJ IDEA.

Return on Investment

IntelliJ IDEA has definitely proven to be a good return on investment. It has improved developer productivity by at least 50%, as developers don't have to switch between different tools for things like giving shell commands, checking database entries, etc.
With our recent integration with an AI code assistant tool, development time has been further reduced by at least 30%. This tool can suggest the structure of methods and classes and generate code within those functions.
With the license server model and our organization's geographical distribution, we saved some more on the cost, bringing the return on investment to an even higher value.

Usability

I gave it a rating of 9 because it is easy to install and get started. Once we've installed it, we can start a new project or open an existing one with quite ease. Then, we can find most of the things that we need during the development process handy in the top toolbar, the bottom gutter, or the right-side gutter. This makes it intuitive and easy to use.

Alternatives Considered

Eclipse and Microsoft Visual Studio Code

IntelliJ stacks better against Eclipse or vs code because it provides better code suggestions, out-of-the-box SonarLint integration, and built-in support for version control with git. It also has a vast collection of plugins that can increase developer productivity, reduce development time, and improve code security. Intelligent takes much of the developer's worry away by providing code clean-up suggestions as well.

Key Insights

Do you think IntelliJ IDEA delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IntelliJ IDEA's feature set?

Yes

Did IntelliJ IDEA live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of IntelliJ IDEA go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IntelliJ IDEA again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Codeium, PyCharm, Taskade

Likelihood to Recommend

IntelliJ IDEA is very well suited for developers working on Java, Javascript, and related technologies. It is the best IDE I've found so far for software development in Java. IntelliJ IDEA is specifically well suited for web software development using Java as it provides default configurations for web frameworks like Spring and Spring Boot. For other use cases, I feel it is more than good enough.

Comments

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