Being greeted by a fellow employee about the lack of decoration at my desk, I would like to extend it to the community to describe some of the most useful items on your desk that you could not go a week without.
I have a few printouts stuck to my wall with common snippets I use frequently but often have to look up....regexes, sublimetext shortcuts, db schemas, etc.
I also have one big notebook that serves as a day to day scratchpad for projects that I'm working on, and a smaller notepad that I use as my daily to do list. Every day, the first thing I do at work is pull out this smaller pad and jot down a quick task list, by hand. I've tried the online task lists (I'm basically addicted to trying them) but at the end of the day I still go back to the old school pen and paper approach. Whatever works for you.
Aside from the prinouts, notepads and obvious stuff like monitor/laptop, I have a coffee mug and nice pair of stereo headphones for when I need to tune out.
Printouts of often needed code snippets is a great idea. I think it would help me to put up printouts of 'context-switch-snippets'. Like when I need to go to iOS programming after doing Ruby for a while, a quick checklist of the syntax and things I end up looking up again every time I make the switch (diff between retain/strong/assign).
My client moves me every few months within the same building. So I have the most boring desk just like you. I keep it simple. Pack stuff in 1 box and move when asked.
My desk is so small I can barely fit my two 22" monitors along with the laptop dock on it. Besides the phone shoved in the corner (because, I mean, who calls a developer these days??) I have a small notebook for ideas and other inspiration and my smartphone.
- laster pointer just to point at random stuff (completely pointless).
- pen and some paper
- mug
- my wallet, some change, keys and oyster card
- my Nexus charging (as always)
And the usual stuff Macbook pro + screen (don't buy apple, better get Dell or Samsung with 4k) + stand + logitech K760 + some cheap mouse
Beer tasting index card, a few scenic photos I took on vacation years ago, Radioactive Man Homer Simpson, Wireless headphones, coffee sleeve from the best coffee bar I've ever been too & a note book. If I have to sit here for 8 hours a day, I figure I should at least like the scenery.
Not decoration, not the monitors, and not the stack of bills...
Bought it in the UCF bookstore for about $100 in the spring of 1989, the unusual thing on my desk is an HP11C. Now in its 26th year, it's still a goto device.
Samsung Series 7 750 27" monitor, box of business cards, "rolodex" (just a stack of cards), my macbook pro 13", WD my passport for time machine backup, a projector that we barely use but has some cables on top of it that go with it, an NYCDA t-shirt, The Book of Ruby, Beginning Rails 3, Stylin' with CSS, AngularJS Directives, Wired Magazine, buckyballs, a Sphero I barely use, a stamp, an ink well for the stamp, a pen, a little thing of vaseline, and an iPod shuffle charger for my waterproof guy I use while swimming
Apart from keyboard and mouse, pad and pen, there's nothing on my desk I couldn't go a week without. I'd rather lose the pad and pen, but they're useful.
On my restored 1960's metal tanker desk, I've got my 13" mbp (on a stand), a 20" monitor, 3 raspberry pis, 2 notebooks, my headphones, a cherry MX brown mech. keyboard, wireless mouse and a couple pens.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 65.0 ms ] threadI also have one big notebook that serves as a day to day scratchpad for projects that I'm working on, and a smaller notepad that I use as my daily to do list. Every day, the first thing I do at work is pull out this smaller pad and jot down a quick task list, by hand. I've tried the online task lists (I'm basically addicted to trying them) but at the end of the day I still go back to the old school pen and paper approach. Whatever works for you.
Aside from the prinouts, notepads and obvious stuff like monitor/laptop, I have a coffee mug and nice pair of stereo headphones for when I need to tune out.
And the usual stuff Macbook pro + screen (don't buy apple, better get Dell or Samsung with 4k) + stand + logitech K760 + some cheap mouse
Bought it in the UCF bookstore for about $100 in the spring of 1989, the unusual thing on my desk is an HP11C. Now in its 26th year, it's still a goto device.
That specific enough for ya?
Its how I sit when I read HN.