My Workspace

This is the second installment in my series commemorating my anniversaries. In this post, I’m excited to give you a tour of my workspace.

What’s in my workspace?

• An electric sit-stand desk from autonomous.ai. I generally work sitting down, but I prefer to stand for meetings, especially those that tend to run long. My meetings typically take place between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM, as that’s the time that works best for my colleagues across various time zones, from India to the east coast of the United States. (As you can see, we’re a widely distributed team!) It also happens to be lunch digestion time here in Spain, so standing up during meetings helps me stay alert and focused.
• Next up is my ergonomic chair (I can’t recall the exact model). But what does “ergonomic” really mean? Will any gaming chair do? In occupational health and safety courses, they typically recommend that your joints (ankles, knees, hips, and elbows) be at a 90-degree angle when seated. I’d say a good ergonomic chair should help you achieve that posture while also being comfortable. It needs to offer sufficient adjustability to allow for proper alignment and support. Bonus points if it has adjustable armrests and headrest!
• My work laptop is a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon, provided by the company I work for. When I first started, I had a different model, as they refresh our laptops every three years. To be honest, I preferred the previous model. This one is faster, but it tends to get quite hot under heavy workloads. To combat this, I dug out an old heatsink from my closet to help with cooling. And of course, it runs Fedora Linux!
• I have two DELL P2419H monitors. Frankly, I mainly use just one, the one directly in front of me. I only use the second monitor for meetings where I need to share my screen. I’ve been having some neck issues lately, and constantly turning my head from side to side wasn’t helping. So, I’ve simplified my setup and stuck with a single monitor for now.
• For meetings and listening to music, I rely on my trusty Sennheiser HD429 headphones. I bought them about 10 years ago, and they’re still going strong. The only issue I had was that the earcups started to deteriorate, so I replaced them a couple of years ago. Other than that, they’re like new, and the sound quality is excellent.
• To complete my meeting setup, I have a Logitech HD Webcam C270, which I purchased during the pandemic at a rather exorbitant price. It’s a basic webcam, nothing fancy, but at the time, it was the best I could find without having to sell a kidney.
• Both my mouse and keyboard are from Logitech: the MX Keys S and MX Master 2S, to be precise. I bought the mouse first, after several friends raved about it. And they were right! It’s incredibly comfortable, ergonomic, and feels built to last. Plus, it allows me to connect to multiple devices and switch between them seamlessly. I was so impressed with the mouse that I decided to get the keyboard a year ago or so, and I’m equally thrilled with it. It also offers easy device switching and is very comfortable to type on. The only minor drawback is that it’s quite heavy, which surprised me. And to protect my wrists, I use a mousepad with a wrist rest, as well as a similar support for my keyboard.
• My desk wouldn’t be complete without a few items produced on HP’s 3D printers, where I worked a few years ago. I have a Yoda figurine, which I’ve been meaning to paint for a while now, and a horse-shaped smartphone holder.
• You’ll also notice that I have some plants, which add a touch of color to my workspace and help purify the air. I have a small zebra succulent on my desk and a larger dracaena on the floor.
• Finally, I have to mention the paintings and the closet in the background. I live in a newly built apartment, and the rooms tend to have a lot of echo when they’re empty. To address this, I initially hung up some paintings of my family and places I’ve visited. But the echo persisted, so I started stacking cardboard boxes on the floor. This wasn’t a sustainable solution, so I eventually bought a couple of basic cabinets to store files and books. Not only did this help reduce the echo, but it also enhanced the aesthetics of my workspace :grin:
• Bonus: Last year, I traveled to India for work, and it happened to coincide with the Holi festival. We had a celebration in the office, and they had these colorful umbrellas as decorations. I loved them so much that I decided to bring one back as a souvenir.
• Bonus 2: Although it’s hidden from view by the desk, my workspace also houses the gaming PC I built last year. I won’t bore you with all the specs, but I will say that it boasts an NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics card, which allows me to play games like Doom Eternal with full graphics power.