My new desktop to work during this pandemic

Do you wonder how is the desktop of a developer work during this pandemic? In this blog post, I will share with you the table and the accessories that I use to work daily.

A working space redesign

From the moment I started working from home I knew that the room that I was using to work was not the best place to be working 8 hours a day. I knew that I had to do some improvements to be comfortable and in the best environment to be able to execute my job.

Changing the sitting direction

The first thing that I did was to move the direction of the table. The table was in front of the window and the amount of direct light dazzled my eyes and for some days I had eye redness. So, I decided to set the table in a way that I could seat lateral to the window. This way I was taking advantage of the light that I got in the room without damaging my eyes.

Why not standing instead of sitting?

But then, I realized that there was space two put two tables instead of a single one in this new setup. I started to seek some inspiration in some YouTubers that show their fancy desktop setups and some of them were using a type of desk called a standing desk. I use to have some shoulder/neck pain and the thing is that being sitting for 8 hours a day is not good for our bodies to cause we are not adapted to the chair, so I started to investigate more on the subject.

Our body needs movement

According to the following study people who sat for thirteen hours had twice the mortality rate as the average. And it was not only the total sitting time that mattered but also the duration of each sitting. At the same total time, those who sat for shorter periods, interspersed with some movement, had less risk than the rest.

Measuring the space available

I started measuring the space that I wanted to fill with a table. The table could not be wide because then I would reduce space in the room when I’m not working. I have the bed in this room and I have a small table beside the bed and the window and didn’t want that the new table occupied more space than It should.

Table size requirements

After measuring the space to fit the table I got the measurement requirements for the table. The table must be 150 cm long and 52 cm wide, not more than that. I begin looking for a standing desk with these specifications but I didn’t find any table that had those specifications. Then I found some youtube videos where they buy the table separated from the lifting structure. Some of them buy the wood part in Ikea worktop and then they join both parts to do all the structure.

Buying the pieces

I bought the lifting structure in Amazon and the wood worktop separated. The two parts arrived home and building the structure was like building a lego.

Building the table

In the instruction sheet were all the steps that you had to follow to have it completely build. I did it in one afternoon with patience. Some days after arrived home the worktop. I did some holes in the wood worktop to be able to put the screws to join the structure with the table. The final result was better than I’d expected. I had a standing desk table that fits in the available space in the room.

Arm for my screen

Once I had the table in place I wanted to set my screen but without using table space and having separated enough from me while I was at the table working. I bought then an arm to put monitors and flexible to move it up, down, and without using extra space in the table (Remember the width of the table is 52cm, so I have to use every cm)

New mouse

Even that my idea is to use the mouse less and less in favor of using the keyboard shortcuts to be more productive and do things faster, I bought the MX master 3 logitech because the mouse that I was using to work was not comfortable enough and I read good reviews.

New laptop

At that time I was using my old 2014 Asus laptop, I connected it to a 19’ screen to be able to use a widescreen for my 8-hour daily job. The laptop was not bad because I installed an SSD hard disk to have better performance. Then at the beginning of December, I decided to buy the Macbook Air m1. The old laptop had 6 years already and as there were good reviews of the new Apple silicon processors I gave it a try.

Plug the laptop into the screen

To plug the laptop into the screen and using an ethernet connection to connect to the internet I bought a USB-c from Amazon. The product cost 20 euros and after some weeks of using it, I had to buy a new one because the HDMI connection was not working and I couldn’t use my screen. Then some days ago I bought another adapter (hope this one is better) and its working completely fine.

Conclusion

In this post, I have shared with you how I changed my working space to be more comfortable working. What do you think about standing desks? Have you ever tried to work standing for some time? Have you adapted your workspace to work during this pandemic?