Ask HN: What kind of office do you have? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What kind of office do you have?

4 pointskahseng6 comments

So... long story short, I'm finally getting my own office. That's kind of sweet, I know, but want some ideas on how I should pimp it before I move in.

What kind of office do you have? Are you facing the door or away from it? Do you stand? Dim lighting or bright? Couch or none? Music? Plants, aquarium? NC or NO doors? What rocks your boat?

Thanks for the advice!

P.S. I've been in a cube, and also doubled up before. Of course, I hope next up is a home office :)

View on HN

I'm facing the door (normally open), and not facing the window (which overlooks the Rockies). When I faced the window, I found I didn't look at the monitor, so facing away at least lets me get work done. I have 2 bookcases, one full, the other one getting there. I leave the shades open until about 1pm when I close them because the direct sunlight makes everything unreadable. There are 3 chairs, a whiteboard and another desk (which is unoccupied, and with a hiring freeze is very unlikely to ever get occupied).

Because of a bad experience getting laid off at a previous job (if I hadn't tailgated someone else in, I never would have been able to get my personal books and stuff), I normally don't keep more posessions at the office than I can carry out by myself (meaning no aquarium, or other bulky stuffs), and just books.

Interesting comment about not facing the window -- I don't have an office, but I've heard many people say that having their computer in front of a window is good because looking back and forth between their computer and whatever is outside the window helps to prevent eye strain.

helps to prevent eye strain.

I couldn't back this up without looking into it more... But I think the exercise also helps prevent/reduce/stall/mitigate short-sightedness.

But he _did_ have the Rockies outside, I can imagine why it happened... :)

From what I've seen people like facing the door...

I remember I once got the choice window desk in a large office (very large - was actually a trading floor of sorts).

Whenever I came in on weekends I'd sit with my back to a massive, empty open space. It didn't feel like an issue when there were people around during the week - but when it was just me it really creeped me out. Eventually I swapped with a location that didn't have it's back to the open space.

Yeah, I thought about completely facing the door, but mainly because I don't like people staring at my screen when they walk past. However, I can also imagine getting extremely distracted by people walking past all the time. There are people who sit at a 45 degree angle from facing the door, but I feel that with that I would be both distracted and have my screen looked at by passerbys.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com