How big is your desk?

ZeroCool@vger.social to Programmer Humor@programming.dev – 939 points –
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Actually long desks are no longer considered best practice. At my work, some devs have a lazy suzan, while others prefer a circle that they can pivot around to face the right computer.

I got one of those desks with a vertical pneumatic lift so I can stack the computers vertically in a rack and just raise/lower it so the right one is at eye height

Waste of money. Build the chair to go up and down instead.

The trick is you hire a runner who comes over when you ring a bell and he unplugs your computer and plugs in the one you need and then takes the other computer to someone else that needs it, I think they call him a vm short for vamoose machine

At one point, before we virtualised everything, I had a custom desk built in an L-shape. Instead of a desk and a return, I had the refurbishment team put together a desk with two desks instead. It gave me two sets of drawers, two computer cubby holes and the gap was too small for the horrible keyboard adjustable shelf that kept hitting your knees, so they replaced it with a fixed surface instead.

People laughed.

Colleagues sniggered.

Then they wanted one too.

Now I have a mobile lectern with an iMac clamped to it. Height adjustable, wheels, enough space for keyboard, trackpad and USB hub. I move around my office as the mood or light takes me.

I swear, overcoming fixed functional-ness is like a superpower when you can apply it.

I once shared a small office with a co-worker. I had the idea to move the desks away from the walls and place them back-to-back, diagonally, in the middle of the room. Other co-workers scoffed and remarked at how dumb and unconventional this looked. Then I explained that we each now had nearly full privacy from each other, much more personal space in our respective corners, no more glare from the window, and nobody could sneak up on us from the door anymore. Things got pretty quiet after that.

Ah, the Neil Peart drum kit solution