All-remote workspace

GitLab is my first all-remote job, with the handbook being a great helpful resource. I'm iterating over the months on finding the best equipment, shared on this page.

Current Setup

The standing desk and curved monitor reasons are detailed in this blog post.

• IKEA Bekant standing desk, white stained oak veneer, black (160x80 cm / 63x31.5")
• IKEA Markus office chair, best experience for my back since 2010
• Samsung 34" premium curved monitor with USB-C (C34H982, H980 series)
• Logitech webcam C930e
• Apple Magic Keyboard and Trackpad 2, space grey
• Twelve South Curve Macbook stand
• Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700
• CharJenPro USB-C hub adapter & Belkin USB-C/VGA adapter
• Yubico Yubikey 5Ci USB-C/Lightning

Lighting

I've updated the ceiling light in November 2020 with a dimmable Philips Hue, and then added an Elgato Key Light on the front right. The main reasons are:

• Zoom calls in PT mornings (CET evenings) need a smooth similar background lighting. Previous 3 LED spots were chaos.
• Good lighting is easy on the eyes, and helps next to the monitor. Personal wellbeing investment, following a suggestion from Nico.

I've also been reading the GitLab handbook and watched this helpful video.

• Elgato Key Light, Professional Studio LED Panel with 2800 lumens
• Philips Hue White Amb. Fair LED Ceiling Light with Dimmer Switch

Audio and Streaming

I've updated the microphone and streaming setup in June 2021, with more details in this blog post.

• Shure SM7B Dynamic Vocal Microphone  - primary, recording & streaming
• Shure A26X 3" Desk Stand Extension Tube - extending the arm & microphone
• Ugreen Microphone Cable High Quality XLR Male to XLR Female Black - quality cables
• Røde PSA1 articulated arm stand - less expensive, aligns perfectly with the Shure microphone
• PreSonus Studio 24c USB C Audio Interface - connected to & powered by the Macbook
• Cloud Microphones, Cloudlifter, CL-1, Microphone Amplifier - 25 dB more gain
• JLAB Talk Go microphone - secondary, calls & coffee chats
• Corsair Elgato Stream Deck LCD Buttons - streaming deck

Macbook

Macbook Pro 16", 2019 covered with ACME Made Skinny Sleeve XL during travel.

• 2.6GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7
• 16 GB RAM
• AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4 GB
• 512 GB SSD

Desk

Apps and settings

I manage most of the apps and settings with dotfiles and Homebrew in this repository. I've also written a blog post with more insights on ZSH and alike.  

• Raycast as a productivity workflow app, including emoji search
• iterm2 terminal
• oh-my-zsh

Insights into my workday

I recommend watching this talk or peeking into the slides. More all-remote resources can be found in the GitLab handbook. 🦊

Remote Background

I've played around with backgrounds and found the personal easter eggs more appealing. How many can you spot? :-)