- A pair of wired earphones/headphones with an attached microphone in it for meetings
- An external camera for meetings, or if you have a spare phone you can use Camo (or iPhone's continuity camera) to stream video from the phone as a camera. When combined with a good phone stand, this setup beats most external cameras.
- A footstool/ottoman to rest your feet
- If you drink coffee, then experiment with and find good coffee beans that you would enjoy
- A desk placement that has you facing a window, this makes sure you can just look up to see outside and also keeps unwanted reflections on your monitor low
And of course a good desk and a chair. Search on FB marketplace for really good deals.
I bought a decent Microphone (jlab talk pro) and a $200 Webcam (Logitech brio 4k). Since all of my interactions are over Webcam I wanted to have something better than the default laptop Webcam. Also I do my work on a desktop
I would also recommend building a PC. I run several docker containers at once and the company issued MacBook pro is very sluggish with this. I built my own PC with lots of ram and (what was at the time) a good cpu.
I can easily share my ipad screen and draw like I would with pen and paper, and then save the notes to send or keep alongside code/docs.
Also being able to quickly handwrite notes and memos, double tap to transcribe, and then copy them to slack/notion/an email is awesome.
I will admit it feels like a bit of a waste of an ipad with that being its only function for me, but if anything in this setup broke I would replace it in a heartbeat.
They are pretty easy to buy and install yourself, I got mine from amazon.
- single 27" monitor with adjustable arm (to level it with my eyes)
- Microsoft Sculpt ergonomic keyboard and Logitech G603 mouse
- mouse pad with wrist rest
- audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i4) and high-ish quality microphone (AKG)
- Sennheiser open headphones (HD 518 I have for ages) and KRK studio monitors
At the end the highest impact is having dedicated room with doors that close. Especially when kids are around.
* Directionality matters because extraneous sounds in a home can be very distracting for listeners. For example, say the dishwasher is running. Or you answered a call before turning down the radio. Or a neighbor is mowing. Or, in a highrise, your balcony door is open.
* In conversation your semi-verbal cues like a tsk, a grunt, or an audible sigh can carry surprising weight. It's nice to know these can get through and convey how you feel without having to actually say it.
I consider my good microphone, mounted on an adjustable boom stand, complete with a pop-filter, along with some commonsense audio conveyance awareness, is my secret superpower.
Also, a standing desk - but I only use it to vary the height just little bits while I sit…
A high resolution display that can show you text crisp and sharp.
I have worked from home almost continuously since 2002 and have only the most basic home office. It’s the end of the utility room which I have divided off, just wide enough for my seat, too small for a ‘proper’ desk so I’ve mounted a sheet of plywood as a tabletop. It’s heaven.
* Teleprompter so you can look at camera and the person you're talking to at the same time. Significantly reduces zoom fatigue for me.
* A bright key light. As well as meaning you can be seen on camera I've found it significantly improves my mood having a bright light in front of me that's diffuse enough to not dazzle.
* Bone conduction headphones are significantly more pleasant than traditional headphones/earphones for long days of meetings
* Decent microphone. Recommend Shotgun mic or lapel mic if you have ambient sound.
* Decent chair (good second hand options from failed startups)
* A decent camera (reused a mirrorless I already had)
* Decent coffee machine
* Large monitor
* Wacom tablet for diagraming
* Aircon (in UK this is uncommon but climate warming means it's unpleasant to be without for more of the year)
* Streamdeck for automating common tasks
I've also picked up a standing desk recently. While it is too soon to say, I think I'm already seeing a positive impact on my back. Getting that ergonomic desk setup is probably the more universally helpful thing.
- A decent pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones
- Two decent-sized monitors and a full-size keyboard. Don't try to work on a laptop keyboard/screen all day.
It’s the only way I can be truly comfortable at a desk for 7-10 hours a day.
Any time I get annoyed, I stand up, walk to the living room, and pet the cat. Instant drop in blood pressure.
Get a good soft key light behind the desk, and of course a good chair.
But also what goes around it; if you get that wrong, you can have the perfect chair and not benefit from it. The chair is perhaps the starting point, but it's only one part of the whole system.
If where your feet go isn't comfortable, you'll sit on the world's greatest chair wrong. If the desk you sit at places the keyboard at a position that's not good, you'll stretch or compress your arms, or maybe the chair's armrests are in the way of your elbows or forearms and you're under constant tension all day as you work.
My feet don't rest on the floor; the desk has a little platform under it about five centimetres above the floor; that's pretty good for me. The desk has a sliding horizontal keyboard plate that puts the keyboard about 5cm above my thighs. When typing, I am in a little enclosure formed by the chair and sliding keyboard-shelf, which means my elbows are literally at the side of my hips and the base of my hands rest on the very top of my thighs. I can feel that my arms are very much in a relaxed state, and the natural curl this gives my hands is almost the same shape as they are when typing.
That's a lot of text about my specifics, but it's to push my point. It's not just having a great chair, a great desk, a great footrest (if that's your thing; I like my legs slightly extended, hence the raised plate to rest them on - some people like their feet placed firm to the floor). It's the whole combined setup allowing you to tune to your own human factors and ergonomics.
A cheap chair and cheap desk that allow you to sit and work just right for yourself is far better than an expensive combination that puts you under constant tension or stretch. It's better to spend the time to find a great setup for yourself than big money on items that individually are excellent but won't combine to be just right for you.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nbt9sdnszcpe9ruk1a9gj/IMG_089...
I get about 3-6hrs on the treadmill each day at about 2-2.5mph. I like using it much more than my standing desk. I find that I sleep much better now and have a lot more energy.
Not only that it has the auto-brightness adjustment and the color quality is superb, but has speakers, camera, mic, ethernet and USB ports, which are a nice thing to have - specially the speakers and mic are pretty good. I can't care less about refresh rate but its resolution (96ppi) make it ideal for me - a nice spot between "old" 72ppi and not having scaling issues with a 4K resolution whatsoever.
I got it to work with Linux with a HP Elitedesk 800 G4, a thunderbolt card they sell after purchase and the Thunderbolt3->Thunderbolt2 adaptor.
- A quiet, uncluttered workspace
- Good microphone
- Good external monitor
- Good coffee
1) A good chair (e.g. aeron, leap) 2) A height-adjustable desk 3) A monitor arm
It'll take some fiddling to get just right, but standing up after a long work day and not being in pain is priceless.
More effective air conditioning/heating has been nice. Maybe a box fan to supplement if it's not always effective.
Weirdly my incredibly cheap Chromebook is preferable sometimes to the old laptop which is much better technically, because I don't have to worry about the battery and it doesn't heat up my lap at all and is quite light.
Having a reasonably priced VPS or two available for development is nice.
This is definitely not for everyone and not a purchase, but I don't have a car or drive anymore. It means I never have to stress about traffic and I feel like I save a lot of energy. I order groceries on Instacart. That does waste money but it's much less than people spend on transportation.
The thing that has made the biggest difference is just relocating to less expensive areas. That might not matter so much for highly paid HNers but for a few of us, cost of living is a big deal.
If you can, maybe a wall color, a wooden shelf, some framed pictures, stuff like that
For me, it was a strip of white LEDs fixed at the back of the monitor.
Very comfortable for the eyes.
You can also buy a 5$ table lamp and it away fron the monitor at the back of it.
Avoiding clutter and keeping workplace clean was one of the biggest improvements in comfort for me.
I have normal table (just nice looking one) and Ikea office chair and prefer to make breaks for exercise and drinking water.
Chair: yes but doesn’t need to be expensive. I’m still dragging around an office chair from 2002. It just fits me.
Separate your space. Make sure your work and home environments don’t collide. Once I learned this lesson, I bought a used RV and converted it. Power, A/C, fridge - just plug into the house and you’re good. Once the rats infested it and got me sick over and over, I switched to a Lowe’s Garden Shed. Now, replete with a basic folding table and all my stuff.
Synergy. One mouse & keyboard + clipboard, shared across all machines. From left to right, I have a personal intel NUC, work MBP intel, work MBP m1, personal MBP m1. Each with an extra monitor positioned above the machine. So effectively it’s like a single giant machine but workloads can be isolated. So nice. Game changing.
All y’all with your special mics - stop it. They suck for us on the other side of the call. Just get a set of headphones with a mic built-in. Beats, AirPods, etc. y’all with your fancy mics have no idea how inconsistent and awful they are for us on the other end. I lose at least 10-20m of my week with people futzing around with their fancy mic. Stop it.
Again, separation of work space vs living space is paramount. You can poison your living space with all the positive and negative of work - it’s just hard to really let that stuff go without physically changing your environment. Polluting your living space with work will only work for so long.
Other than that, I wish I could express how rudimentary you can go and get yourself a really good and productive space.
FWIW, my keyboard is an old Dell, circa 2005 - still rockin - mouse, old Logitech (2007?). Desk is srsly just a jank folding table.
It’s definitely less about the toys you buy than the protection of your work space vs living space - and making sure your just plain comfy sitting for hours on end as you forget to take a break.
Speaking of virtual background, I took a real picture of a real office. My virtual background looks natural and is not distracting.
So now I have a personal kitchen, bathroom etc. And no employer can make a better office proposition.
Good lighting.
A large magnifying glass.
Boxes for storage and organization.
Shelves.
Cable ties.
Laptop and monitor stands for even more desk real estate.
Lots of outlets and chargers.
A quality USB hub. I like this one: https://plugable.com/products/usbc-hub7bc it's only 7 ports but it comes with a 60W power adapter.
Good headset or speakers+mic. Make sure the audio on calls is good. Especially if there’s noise around you really good headphones help so much. Sets with a good mic are harder to find. My QC35s were amazing but the mic picked up noise across the room. Noise cancellation meant I couldn’t hear the TV or family next door, but others on the call heard it very clearly. A good office headset like a Jabra works well here. A separate desk speakerphone unit can work really well here too.
Monitor mounts make a pretty big difference in terms of desk space and being able to reposition when sitting or standing.
I love my standing desk, but I found both the foot hammock and balance board to be amazing additions at relatively low cost for how much I love them.
A good webcam at a nice angle can be great compared to the laptop ones. It’s a lot more flattering and adjustable.
monitor arms
floor protector
UPS
Excellent wifi (Ubiquity)
I need a better chair.
Hands down the best laptop I’ve ever owned.
On average I get a new one every 18 months apparently. Doesn’t seem like it, but my purchase history says otherwise…
2) Herman Miller Aeron Chair 3) OmniDesk Electric Standing Desk - 1.8m 4) Decent dual 4K displays
5) A purpose built home office This should be number one, but it doesn’t count really. We built our house with a studio / office a couple of years before the Pandemic.
