erraticwisdom

I always love learning about other people’s workflows, habits and office setups. So now that mine is quasi-finalized, I figured I would share my own.

Being a freelance interface designer and web developer is no easy task. Combine that with being a full-time student (including the heavy workload associated with being a pre-med major), extracurricular activities, and working another part-time job and you have a mental breakdown waiting to happen.

I realized that having an organized, clean environment that allowed me to really buckle down and get to work was crucial. Without further ado, I present to you, my office:

Click the image to go to the tagged Flickr version

All of the computers running in my room, my main MacBook, file server and test PC (under the desk), and development server are laptops. They’re quieter and consume less power, which is a great thing because they’re always on. Plus, I can control both right from my MacBook.

Switching to Mac OS X, and specifically an Intel-based Mac has had a tremendous impact on my productivity. That portable LaCie hooked up to the MacBook houses all of my Parallels virtual machines. Working away from my home network means that remote access can be frustratingly slow. With Parallels, I have quick access to an array of Internet Explorer versions as well as some more obscure browsers for those picky clients.

The servers

After that pesky week-long power outage, I realized that UPS behind the server rack in my closet might not cut it for my clients, so I’ve moved all client servers to an offsite host. For my own needs however, I decided to keep my data close.

My old laptop has become a headless file server named Isis. It’s hidden behind the mess of cables that I gave up on long ago. I don’t want to jinx it, but uptime is at 145 days on Windows XP.

Click the image to go to the tagged Flickr version

The other laptop was stolen from my sister. It’s running Ubuntu Edgy and acts as the development server called Osiris. Ruby, Rails, Subversion, Trac, you name it and it’s probably installed.

All of my regular three (sub)freelancers have full root access including VNC to the machine so it has also become a whiteboard of sorts.

The mounted television, a Viewsonic, is often connected to my MacBook for extra screen space or some Front Row action, but is also hooked up to my new 360.

I was hesitant to put my office in my bedroom, but my apartment is simply too small to allow for any other option. I’ve luckily been able to isolate the two regions of my room (work/sleep) and building a pre-sleep routine has been a great help to that end.

There it is, my setup. Now it’s your turn, what does your room/office look like?