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Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?

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Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?

#81

Post by h335ian »

madarco wrote: post #80
h335ian wrote: post #75

Having been WFH for the last 15y… Chair: yes but doesn’t need to be expensive. I’m still dragging around an office chair from 2002. It just fits me. Separate your space. Make sure your work and home environments don’t collide. Once I learned this lesson, I bought a used RV and converted it. Power, A/C, fridge - just plug into the house and you’re good. Once the rats infested it and got me sick over and over, I switch…

Totally agree on the fancy mics: even wireless hi-end bose headphones sucks. Distance from mouth is the most important factor in voice quality, I've found that a cheap pair of headphones with buil-in stick mic sounded much better than a Yeti mic on the table. It's quite easy to test yourself, but nobody does that: just record a test audio snippet using the OSX Notes app and listen to it yourself.

Yah I’ll pile on. Record yourself like you’re on a call and look at different things. Do some typing, do some on-a-call context switching and listen how awful it is. Then imagine network/VOIP - it’s only worse and most services even resample and do things like audio detection to avoid typing or other background noises. Your fancy mics all suck for this. In my experience anyway.

Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?

#84

Post by lylejantzi3rd »

benjiweber wrote: post #22

Some of the things that make most difference to me * Teleprompter so you can look at camera and the person you're talking to at the same time. Significantly reduces zoom fatigue for me. * A bright key light. As well as meaning you can be seen on camera I've found it significantly improves my mood having a bright light in front of me that's diffuse enough to not dazzle. * Bone conduction headphones are significantly m…

I'd love to see a picture of your setup, if you're comfortable sharing it. I have a hard time imagining what it all looks like. It sounds like it's quite a production!

Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?

#85

Post by Aaargh20318 »

h335ian wrote: post #75

Having been WFH for the last 15y… Chair: yes but doesn’t need to be expensive. I’m still dragging around an office chair from 2002. It just fits me. Separate your space. Make sure your work and home environments don’t collide. Once I learned this lesson, I bought a used RV and converted it. Power, A/C, fridge - just plug into the house and you’re good. Once the rats infested it and got me sick over and over, I switch…

> Separate your space. Make sure your work and home environments don’t collide.

Depends on what works for you. For me it’s the exact opposite. I don’t think separating work and the rest of your life is natural or healthy way to approach things.

It feels really wrong to me to have these major parts of your life completely compartmentalized, not just in space but in time as well. For 8 hours a day I should only think about work, and ignore every other part of my life and vice versa?

For me the exact opposite works way better: I try go blend my work and my personal life as much as possible.

If I get stuck on something work related, I don’t stress out and try to push through it, trying to be productive because I’m inside this arbitrary 8-hour window. Instead I go do a chore around the house, get my mind off the problem. Usually this helps and gets me unstuck and I’ll continue with my work related things.

The reverse is also true: when inspiration strikes outside work hours and I just need to turn my idea into code, I’m not going to hold it in for hours (or even days if it’s a weekend) until it’s 9am on a work day, I’m going to grab my laptop and implement it right then and there.

I find trying to force myself into these time/space separated compartments for work an personal life extremely stressful. I’m actually one single person, this is not Severance. For me life/work balance means that these aspects of myself are balanced at all times, instead of switch between the two.

Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?

#87

Post by enterprise_cog »

mtlynch wrote: post #11
Someone1234 wrote: post #4

"Real" Chair (Steelcase / Herman Miller) and four-legged standing desk (better stability). Plus a handheld "mouse" (ELECOM Relacon) so when I'm reading I can stand differently or do light movement/exercise. Blowing $2.5K on a desk + chair is a lot, but also not a lot depending on your perspective.

I second the recommendation of Steelcase. I bought my Steelcase Leap chair five years ago, and it's still rock solid and has no noticeable wear. My wife recently decided to buy one too, and she got hers refurbished from a company called BTOD. I was impressed with the quality. It was indistinguishable from mine (which I bought new) and cost half the price.

I got a used Gesture on eBay and also was impressed. Definitely a great way to score an excellent chair for cheap. Buying new seems best if you need more optional features or a different material.

I ended up giving that to my ex and getting a new one exactly how I wanted it and have no regrets, even though it was really expensive. The Gesture really is a lovely chair.

Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?

#89

Post by woleium »

mtlynch wrote: post #65
thaumasiotes wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely endorse the idea of getting a Steelcase chair, though my positive experience is with a Leap 2. (Maybe it's the same for you? I'm looking at Steelcase's web site and the Leap 2 is now just called "Leap".)

Hard to say. I can't find any explanation of the differences between v1 and v2. I bought mine in April 2018 from Amazon, and my receipt just says, "Steelcase Leap, Black" with no version.

the lateral movement of the armrest I think is v2 only?

Re: Ask HN: Best WFH Purchases?

#90

Post by jhot »

GuB-42 wrote: post #59
Tomte wrote: post #38

A cat. Any time I get annoyed, I stand up, walk to the living room, and pet the cat. Instant drop in blood pressure.

A great easy, low maintenance option, but I then upgraded to a dog, couldn't be happier :p

My dog of 15.5 years passed away recently and I thought I would allow a few months to grieve and experience life without a pet. 2 weeks later and I got another dog. Very nice to have something around and a good excuse for a couple walks throughout the day.

Otherwise I recommend decent speakers (I have a pair of Sonos Era 100s). I don't have many meetings besides the daily standup so filling the silence with some nice sounding music really helps me get in the groove.

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