People hate buying me presents. It’s written all over my face when I get something I don’t want, despite my best efforts to hide it. Worse, the things I do want are incredibly niche, so the average person has about a 99% chance of getting it wrong and getting my sulky expression as their return gift. (Sorry, my face muscles refuse to obey me. I swear it’s not personal.) 

It does help to know I’m not alone. It’s actually hard to buy a gift for anyone who’s a tech professional. We’ve often got enough money to buy what we want already (not a brag, just a fact), so all the easy or cheap gifts are out. All that leaves is that 1% chance of getting the right gift I mentioned earlier, and you’re not going to get that without a lot of luck, or a little bit of help.

This guide is the little bit of help. 

Here are the best gifts you can give that tech enthusiast in your life who already has everything, as well as some common pitfalls people make when buying gifts for us.

The golden rule: Don’t buy us some odd, offbeat gadget

Seriously. If you just go into a store and see something that has electronic parts and buy it for us because we like other things with electronic parts, it’s the equivalent of asking us to fix your computer because we “work with computers.” (Guh)

Unless you’re sure that your gift recipient genuinely wants a USB-powered desk fan, obscure cable organizer, or build-your-own-radio kit, then please don’t buy it simply because it’s “techy.” 

The seven best gift ideas for a tech professional

1. A paid experience

Surprised not to see a gadget at the top of this list? Pro tip—we tech professionals are humans, too! We like going out to the movies, on train rides, or to musicals when we’re not fending off cyber criminals or coding awesome apps. 

This is also a safe option because unlike a traditional present, paid experiences are fleeting, so we’re always going to want more. Here are some ideas for experiences you could buy:

• Spa day / hot spring visit
• Concert tickets
• Theater tickets (Ballet, opera, musicals, etc)
• Movie night out
• Comedy club
• Fine dining experience
• Wine or craft beer tasting
• Chocolate or dessert tour
• Train ride adventure 
• Helicopter ride
• Weekend getaway

If you’re very confident we’d like it, you can go for something more niche—like a ticket to a gaming convention, board game night, or rock climbing—but this is going to depend on the person. 

2. A gift card (Seriously, think about it!)

“But a gift card is so impersonal!” you might say. But for us, it’s the perfect gift! We know that we’re a nightmare to buy for, and we hate having to pretend to be excited at a gift, so we’re happy to take that burden off you and buy the perfect gift ourselves. Amazon gift cards are the easiest, since this allows us to buy a lot of niche things, but if you know our interests you can go for other types.

I have a friend who’s a Senior Front End Architect, and his biggest hobby is woodworking (Yes, woodworking. We tech folks have the same interests you do). I tried buying him some tools, but these were a dud gift. However, he constantly needs rare woods to carve new things out of, so I get him a gift card for a wood supplier. He’s always ecstatic to talk about the woods he bought and made with the gift card. 

There’s no way I’d ever know he’d be happiest with a plank of purple heart hardwood. Likewise, I wouldn’t expect him to know I’d be happiest with a hardcover version of Anne McCaffrey’s The Ship Who Sang.

Best to leave the buying to the person who actually knows what they want.

3. A better version of a gadget they’ve actually talked about

This is the thing that irks me about “top tech gift” ideas—if you’ve been reading them, they’ll tell you to go out and get us some wireless headphones or an Apple watch (usually by companies trying to sell you wireless headphones and Apple watches.)

But answer me this: What if I already have a set of headphones, or a watch? Seems likely, right? So, the two questions you’ve got to ask yourself are:

• Is the gadget I want to buy better than the one they already have, and am I confident in that?
• Do they actually want a new and improved version of what they already have?

If the answer to both of these are yes, then great! We might have been talking about how we’ve got a keyboard, but what we’d really love is a cool mechanical keyboard, or how we want to replace our existing lights with smart lights. 

You’re probably hoping to find a prescriptive list of “sure-fire gadgets” in 2025 they’d want, but that’s honestly garbage, because it comes down to the individual. What I can give you are places to start:

• Computer accessories (Headphones or earbuds, keyboard, mouse, webcam)
• Digital cameras
• Power bank
• Drones
• Music speakers
• For gamers, gaming devices (E.g. Consoles, handheld devices, controllers) and games they have mentioned

Just ask them what gadgets they have and what they’d like to have. Personally, I’d love it if someone got me a flight control joystick, but another IT person might have no use for it. Just don’t buy random gadgets and hope for the best (See Golden Rule).

4. Lego (Works better than you’d think)

At the risk of stereotyping my own people, a lot of people in tech love Lego. I’ve traveled the world attending tech conferences and expos, and there’s one thing that never fails to draw a crowd—a single box of Lego and a lucky draw. We’re like seagulls swarming over a single french fry, no matter how many degrees and certificates we have. Maybe it’s the love of building things with set instructions that appeals to our particular brains. 

Be warned that if you buy someone Lego, and they get hooked, you are forever morally responsible for saddling them with a hobby that only ends when they run out of money or shelving room. 

5. Adult board games 

Another hobby I’ve seen doing the rounds in tech is a love of adult board games (which can also result in a free-for-all mob at tech conferences). Once again, it’s probably something to do with the love of rules, logic, and creativity all bundled into one. Note that I’m not talking about Monopoly—even mentioning that game is a cardinal sin among adult board game enthusiasts—but rather games like the following:

• Carcassone
• Splendor
• Ticket to Ride
• Catan
• 7 Wonders
• Codenames
• Pandemic
• King of Tokyo
• Azul

These are all good “entry-level” board games to try (Another place to check is the BoardGameGeek top 50 list). Again, your mileage may vary, since board games aren’t for everyone. 

Another pro tip: Board games are particularly good gifts when you can unpack and play them almost straight away, such as a dinner where you’ve got four or more people in attendance. If you’ve got couple friends, this is a solid choice.

6. Subscriptions (The gift that just keeps giving)      

Subscriptions are that mixed gift between an experience and a gift card, but have ongoing value, which kind of makes them especially great. The recipient can just cancel when they don’t want it anymore, or it just expires, depending on how the service operates. Here are some good subscription ideas:

Streaming services

These are things like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Hulu, CrunchyRoll (For Anime fans), and so on. Even if they have it, they can always add this on to their existing subscription. So long as they’re not persnickety about the idea of being “signed up” to something (you should have a vibe for this already) this should be a great gift.

Educational services

A lot of non-tech folks don’t realize how much learning is involved to either get into the field, stay current in the field, or advance in it. Giving someone a subscription to a tech education platform where they can watch helpful classes whenever they want is certainly a unique gift, and a highly useful one. 

Pluralsight (a tech education platform) allows you to gift a subscription where you can give your loved one access to thousands of expert-led, on-demand courses and skill tests, which are perfect for any tech professional. Since it covers pretty much every domain of tech, it’s relevant to any aspiring or current tech professional. In fact, it’s a great idea for friends, family, or anyone looking to skill up in tech.

There are other options like Duolingo Plus if they’re interested in learning a new language, but once again, your mileage may vary depending on the person.

Tech services

As you’d expect from tech professionals, we use a lot of services, so one thing you can do is find out what we use and pay for it. It might be GitHub Copilot, Grammarly Premium, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, or something else.

Audiobooks and magazines

If we’re in tech, we’re likely someone who’s hit the books pretty hard, so an Audible, Scribd, or Kindle Unlimited subscription can be a great gift. If they seem like the type, you could also get the Washington Post, New Yorker, or some other form of publications as a subscription.

Food and drink subscriptions

These are things like coffee, tea, wine, and beer club subscriptions. If the person is already on a meal kit program, like Blue Apron or HelloFresh, you could pay for that.

7. The gift of just asking us

Yes, I know it’s not a gift, but rather a suggestion. If you’re checking this list and you’ve got this far, you’re already unsure of what to get this person. The easiest way to find out? Just ask! They’ll probably appreciate it, and you can ask for a list, so there’s still some surprise around what they’ll get.

You can also just ask someone close to them. My wife acts as my gift-checker-in-chief, hearing out people’s gift ideas and suggesting what I’d like. It’s great because I don’t know what’s coming, and she can make sure people buy gifts I’ll actually like. (I know, I’m so much work. If only my face listened to me.) 

In the end, though, everyone’s happier for just asking. People sometimes might be at a loss to give you an idea right away, but they tend to appreciate you taking the time to ask.

Conclusion: Whatever you do, learn our interests

If there’s one thing you should take away from this article, it’s that you can check a hundred lists on the “top gifts” to get a tech professional, but it’s incredibly subjective, because we’re all humans with different interests. I’ve known IT professionals who like knitting, brewing beer, or hiking in their spare time—we’re not all keyboard-bound tech-heads who’re only excited by the latest Nvidia graphics card. 

It’s likely not the easy answer you want, but it is the truthful one.

So, talk to us! Get to know what makes us tick. There’s a few things on the list that are safe bets—gift cards, experiences, and subscriptions—which are certainly good gift ideas. At the end of the day, the greatest gift you can give is showing that you took the time to learn our interests, and want to try to make us happy. 

And whatever you do, don’t just buy us some random gadget from the local electronics store. 

Giving someone the gift of Pluralsight

Giving a tech professional the gift of Pluralsight is a gift that keeps giving all career long. If you have a friend, family member, or know someone who wants to upskill in tech or further their career, why not give them the gift of knowledge? You can gift a three or one year plan, giving them access to thousands of expert-led courses, skill tests, and hands-on learning experiences. Why not give them the gift of a lifetime? Learn more here.