January 11, 2014 at 11:20 am
Beatrix Kiddo (1/10/2014)
I've asked in the past about getting desks we could stand at, still no luck on that.
You can get some great standing desks nowadays. I'm not sure they're for me because I'd probably loll around all the time but I'd quite like the option.
So I thought about this. Red Gate would buy me one, but when I was in the Cambridge office, someone was doing a "trial" of a standing desk by using boxes of books to lift the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Essentially raising his desktop with boxes.
It worked well, so he went to a standing desk. I decided to try it. I did get an investment ($150-200) from Red Gate for a pole with monitor arms to lift my monitors up, but then used boxes for the keyboard/mouse.
It's been a year, and I love it. I bought a rubber mat to help my legs, and I need to make something more permanent because I need some surface space for things, but the boxes have really worked well. I think they help me maintain a less-sedentary lifestyle.
January 12, 2014 at 3:50 am
I saw a blog on the Brent Ozar website where his minimum spec for a quad core 2CPU box was 96GB RAM and 2xSSD drives. The charge of over-speccing the box was answered by saying that the cost of licencing SQL Server was the largest cost. The cost of the extra memory and SSD drives was paltry in comparison so why bother scrimping on these items?!?!?! You would lose more money in DBA time diagnosing and addressing memory constraints than you would save!
Similarly with the desktop. The biggest expense is the employees salary. The cost of a couple of decent monitors and some basic desktop tools is negligible in comparison.
My home setup has a single monitor and the stuff that comes with the developer edition of SQL2008.
My work setup has two really good monitors, laptop with SSD drive with 8GB RAM, Red-Gate tools etc. Having recently had my laptop replaced and finding the Red-Gate stuff absent, plus quite a chunk of my previous tools was quite debilitating. It didn't stop me working, it just stopped me working as well as I usually do.
Some of those tools allow me to multi-task more effectively.
Yes I can work without them but do an employer is getting less value for money from me. Just for clarity my work place is not removing the tools from me, its just an oversite in the hardware switchover process.
January 13, 2014 at 7:16 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (1/11/2014)
Beatrix Kiddo (1/10/2014)
I've asked in the past about getting desks we could stand at, still no luck on that.
You can get some great standing desks nowadays. I'm not sure they're for me because I'd probably loll around all the time but I'd quite like the option.
So I thought about this. Red Gate would buy me one, but when I was in the Cambridge office, someone was doing a "trial" of a standing desk by using boxes of books to lift the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Essentially raising his desktop with boxes.
It worked well, so he went to a standing desk. I decided to try it. I did get an investment ($150-200) from Red Gate for a pole with monitor arms to lift my monitors up, but then used boxes for the keyboard/mouse.
It's been a year, and I love it. I bought a rubber mat to help my legs, and I need to make something more permanent because I need some surface space for things, but the boxes have really worked well. I think they help me maintain a less-sedentary lifestyle.
I've thought about propping everything up on boxes to try it. I just know now that I can see over the cubicle walls when I stand and I'm worried that seeing everyone walk around will be a real distraction. Who knows, maybe I would get used to it, but I still get distracted when people walk past my desk now. It is review time, maybe I'll ask again and see if they can find a solution.
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we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
Don't fear failure, fear regret.
January 13, 2014 at 8:38 am
below86 (1/13/2014)
I've thought about propping everything up on boxes to try it. I just know now that I can see over the cubicle walls when I stand and I'm worried that seeing everyone walk around will be a real distraction. Who knows, maybe I would get used to it, but I still get distracted when people walk past my desk now. It is review time, maybe I'll ask again and see if they can find a solution.
It might, but I bet you get used to it.
Or ask for more monitors to surround yourself and prevent distractions :w00t:
The one thing I'll say is I ran for years, so standing wasn't a bit issue. Plus I had a separate laptop that I could use to sit down if needed. Many automated standing desks go up and down so you can choose. I purposely didn't want to get stuck in the low position, forgetting or being too lazy to raise it. However, there are times I need to sit and use the laptop.
If you use boxes, think about that. You will want to sit at times. Plus you lose some desk space.
January 13, 2014 at 8:49 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (1/13/2014)
Or ask for more monitors to surround yourself and prevent distractions :w00t:
It seemed to take forever to just get two, I think the chances of getting more than that are pretty slim. 🙁
I'll just see if I can get two 40 inch screens. 🙂
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we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
Don't fear failure, fear regret.
January 13, 2014 at 8:52 am
a coworker has that, I've sat at his desk and the amount of real estate is overwhelming.
January 13, 2014 at 12:40 pm
I got one word for you:
Chocolatey
seriously Google it
January 13, 2014 at 9:41 pm
1. Virtual Box or VMware workstation
2. SQL Management Studio (latest)
3. Git
4. SQL Source Control
5. Chrome
6. Pidgin
7. Visual Studio (latest)
8. Dropbox
9. Putty
10. Winscp
Why is it that people who can't take advice always insist on giving it? - James Bond, Casino Royale
January 14, 2014 at 4:00 am
I work freelance so the only guaranteed common tools I use are a pad and a pen. Seriously. OK I have some sort of PC (usually Windows) and word processor. And email. Maybe.
I tend to extend this to my personal work philosophy in that I use the latest version of the Windows client, Windows VMs, Visual Studio, SQL Server, Office and IE. There are alternatives, however, these are the most common tools for each of the categories that I come across. I have heard other freelancers say things like "I must have Firefox" but I have worked at too many places where there is no choice. Certainly not for temporary staff/contractors/suppliers etc.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
January 14, 2014 at 8:34 am
dbassassin (1/13/2014)
1. Virtual Box or VMware workstation2. SQL Management Studio (latest)
3. Git
4. SQL Source Control
5. Chrome
6. Pidgin
7. Visual Studio (latest)
8. Dropbox
9. Putty
10. Winscp
Ahh, Putty. I have that in mind whenever I need to connect somewhere with a terminal, which is rare these days.
January 14, 2014 at 9:52 am
I've got to +1 for ClipCache. I like it so much that I bought my own and snuck it into work years ago. My favorite feature is merging numerous text clips into one.
Since working from home this past year I've come to appreciate a nice KVM switch and a 27 inch monitor. Work provides a 17 inch laptop but using it with a separate keyboard and the monitor makes it livable. I also have 5 Bluetooth mice plugged in. Don't ask.
January 14, 2014 at 10:32 am
Mike Bourgeois (1/14/2014)
I also have 5 Bluetooth mice plugged in. Don't ask.
But I MUST ask! Why five? 🙂
January 15, 2014 at 5:25 am
Our "desktop" is a Wyse terminal to a server somewhere across the site with VMWare hosting our Win7 development environments. I'm told it is "PC over IP".
It means we can log on from any company site and use our own setup without having to remote control a pc. Also it's easier to clone and backup and has failover to a second server for disaster recovery and we don't need expensive high spec pc.
Now we've ironed out the initial issues, which included those caused by moving from XP to Win7, there's no difference when working. We have two large screens, the same development software and extras as before and we are not causing issues for the desktop and server teams by having non-standard pc.
One of our favourite tools is Notepad++ as it will open larger csv files than Notepad and colour format xml etc. Also Visio Pro for database reverse engineering though I first used Visio before Microsoft bought it and back then it could create databases as well as reverse engineer!
January 15, 2014 at 8:01 am
I forgot about the touchpad and stick pointer on the laptop itself so that makes 7! I may have issues. Actually, my hands are wrecked and switching around helps prevent cramping. One is a trackball and another a vertical Penguin.
The way they're set up allows me to use all of them when in "work" mode with 2 on each side of the keyboard and 1 above. When I switch the large monitor back to use with my personal desktop, 2 of the mice stay connected to the laptop for scrolling through email.
Eventually I may scale back to 3 but for now I'm having fun.
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