My Home Office Setup
I started with my summer internship two weeks ago. I started before my joining date because I was relieved of my college semester before the time intended and was super excited about my first full-time experience.
Now, as a Product Management intern, the setup requirement is not so huge. All I needed was a laptop and a notebook at best. However, I spent some extra time setting things up as though I'm a streamer or something. Why? Well, why not?
It's been a while (14 months to be exact) since I'm stuck at home. It would be a great time to spice things up for a new beginning from my old workspace, I thought.
My work setup is a mixture of a couple of new but otherwise old components sitting around my home collecting dust. This assembly was, therefore, pretty cheap to build.
Here's what my setup looks like:
FYI, it's apple juice... 🙄
Here's the same setup at night. Looks kinda rad if you ask me!
(sorry for the poor image quality; my phone camera isn't the best, and I couldn't take my DSLR out of the position 😛)
Here's all the thought that went into it:
- Three words: ergonomics, ergonomics and ergonomics
- Little new equipment to buy
- Considerable empty space for a big writing pad/register if needed
- No cable clutter
- Can undock the laptop as and when required to take it anywhere, easily
Most importantly, fun > function 🤓
Here's all the equipment that went into building this:
- HP Pavilion 14bf175tx Laptop Would talk about this more in an upcoming post (my software stack is much more fun).
- Dell Generic Entry Keyboard The type which you see in grocery shops and all 😪. Opened and cleaned the keys through and through. Isn't the best, but gets shit done. My back used to hurt a lot when I hunched over to type.
- Logitech M185 Mouse A great addition. Love the trackpad for its gestures, but you can't beat the dexterity of a good old mouse. This has a good
- OnePlus Buds Z Recently ordered; good budget TWS to go for. The sound is good, the mic is not terrible. Would've been better if they supported seamless dual pairing.
- Zebronics USB Hub A cheap hub to connect peripherals. Had to do this because of the camera. Would've been better with USB 3.0 ports (this one has 4 USB 2.0 ports), but is good enough for the keyboard and mouse.
- Canon EOS 600D camera By far, the only expensive addition (after the laptop) and the most fun to set up! Using it as an alternative webcam, the picture quality is undoubtedly fantastic. The best way to put this old man to some use since I'm not going out anywhere. I also use it to capture some bugs/birds/butterflies who have lately started hopping around my balcony.
- Marklif Gorilla Pod (13-inch) The build quality is nice and is pretty cheap too (around ₹300). Most of the brands should offer similar quality.
The point of this post was to flex aesthetics 💪. I have only bought a couple of things and made the best out of old hardware. An idea perhaps to make your own desk setup for your WFH internships, to make them more fun and engaging!
Here's a comprehensive explainer on making your own desk setup. Cal Newport also talks about a "grand gesture" to commit yourself to the task at hand in his famous book Deep Work. Would definitely recommend reading it!