Working from Home Setup
Posted by Paolo on 3.29.23 in WFH
For this particular post, I feel the need to explain why I would want to write about this in the first place. I seem to have a fascination with personal working spaces. When I used to work in the office, all the desks were very clinical and minimalist, but the remote working era has introduced a new form of expression in the way that people set up their working environment and the objects they choose to have nearby. I’ve seen some very impressive setups online, but mine is very maximalist in comparison, which I feel tells a bit more of a story.
I’ll start with the equipment that is essential and then work my way towards the useful, might come in handy and the purely decorative or sentimental. In the centre of the desk I have a company issue MacBook Pro. It might sound strange for someone who works as a web developer, but I don’t have much of an interest in hardware specs unless they relate to a particular function or problem I am trying to solve so I won’t elaborate on them here. I bought the laptop stand from Amazon for £13.99 and it’s proved to be very useful and a little more convenient than using several thick books 😅.
I invested in a Logitech bluetooth keyboard to compliment the fact that the laptop now sits on a stand and it has helped me to try and maintain a slightly better posture, although I do find myself gradually sloping forwards to get closer to the screen, so occasionally I have to reset, which is a good opportunity to have a walk around and give my eyes a rest too. I also bought a Logitech silent mouse a few years back, not necessarily because of the “silent” feature, but more due to the fact that it was wireless, economical and comfortable. It hasn’t let me down yet 🤞. The mouse is on a mouse rug, which I’m afraid to say set me back £23.96, but I had this idea in my head of finding a mouse mat that looked like a Persian rug so I was prepared to pay a little bit more than I usually would for a mouse mat.
The external monitor is a classic HP 1740 which I bought on Facebook Marketplace for £10 during the first lockdown. It actually requires two adapters to connect to my MacBook 🤣 (VGA to HDMI and then HDMI to USB C). It does the trick though and I find myself looking mostly at that one when I’m reading or typing and then using the MacBook screen for Teams calls and viewing the websites I am working on. That’s pretty much it in terms of work essentials. There is a printer on the right hand side, but I very rarely use that myself. I wouldn’t be able to do much without the chair either. It’s a gift from a friend who found themselves with dozens of office chairs to shift after their company closed down their office so I was the grateful recipient of one of them. The vintage pine desk is another FB Marketplace bargain and if I recall correctly I think it only cost in the region of £20 🙌.
Apart from all the clutter that my family like to deposit on the printer, there are a couple of books that I sometimes dip into when I need inspiration (or when I’m waiting for something to build/deploy). I use a notepad so I don’t get distracted about how I format my notes or which note taking app to use and I can just capture the important things I want to remember (sometimes I write the notes up for posterity if I think they might come in handy). Then there is an espresso cup, which forms a vital part of my morning “routine” and an empty bottle of S.Pellegrino which I refill with water from the tap as I can’t drink fizzy water all the time, but I like the bottle. Finally there is a pen pot which also contains a couple of Harry Potter wands (I’m pretty sure one belongs to “He-Who-Must–Not-Be-Named“).
The walls are adorned with a couple of paintings from members of my family and a world map that I bought with my wife when we moved into our first house together some 15 years ago 😲. I almost forgot one detail that has pretty much taken over my life over the last couple of months, the crutches… In January I ruptured my achilles tendon during a friendly game of 5-a-side football. I got the ball, turned and attempted to accelerate, before hearing a loud pop and a pain in my calf and falling in a heap on the ground. I was convinced someone had fouled me, but when I looked around no-one was anywhere near me. So, I’ve been nursing this injury for just over a couple of months now. I had the special boot removed last week and now I’m on the long road to recovery, which means I am still using the crutches to help me with my balance until the range of movement in my tendon improves.