TL;DR: What gadgets, tools, furniture and whatnot do I need for an ideal desk setup for a tinkerer/programmer/gamer? Leave a comment and give it your all!
Image is AI generated for the lack of a better option, but I kinda like it.
New year, new everything, I guess. Yes, I know, it's June, but the last 12 months have been wild for me. I switched jobs after 10+ years, got married to my partner of 10+ years, and now we're finally moving into a larger flat after almost 10 years.
The room my wife and I have dedicated to be the "office/work/workshop" room is a bit larger than the one we currently have. More power sockets, more space, better lighting due to larger window, everything's amazing - except for my current setup.
What's there
I currently have an almost L-shaped desk with a single external monitor. On that desk I have a home-made shelf with some books, a desk lamp and all kinds of trinkets. I once added a home-made ambient light (might write about this at some point - leave a comment if you'd like to see that!) and a whiteboard foil on the desk top, a USB hub with all sorts of cables - way too many, actually - but that's it.
Across from that desk I have my little electronics/wood working workshop that's located on a countertop. An external screen for Raspberry Pis, a soldering iron and some storage space for all kinds of electronics parts and more trinkets that might come in useful at some point. Since it's a countertop, I can't put my legs underneath that, resulting in an awkward twisted position whenever I want to solder anything... Less than ideal.
Underneath the desk are stacked boxes of cables and all kinds of gadgets. Storage space is a bit of a rare commodity.
What's missing
This is where things get interesting: When I ask myself what I want and how my ideal setup should look, I don't even know where to start. When I type "Cool desk setup for programmers and gamers" on A Popular Search Engine™, I get tons of different amazing setup inspirations, with lighting that would put the Las Vegas Strip to shame, tons of angled screens, desk mats, several(!!) keyboards, you name it - But nothing really says "that's what I want".
What I do want is an actual desk for my electronics workshop with a moving arm for light and perhaps a magnifying glass, and generally more space so I can actually work.
Also, I want to move the books and cables away from my desk, ideally getting rid of the rather claustrophobic home-made shelf and moving the ambient light.
So, what is missing from my setup? I can't tell. I don't even know where to start - and that's where the DEV community comes in!
What I need
Leave a comment! What's your ideal setup as a programmer, tinkerer or gamer? What do I desperately need so I'm finally one of the cool kids? What gadgets should I avoid at all costs?
Everything goes, so go wild! Sky's the limit!
Top comments (15)
Well, a 3D printer of course! To print all the stuff for organising space under the table so that 3D printer can fit on the table!
Oooh yes, of course! Any specific model you can recommend for 3D printing beginners? I always wanted one, but never had the space (haha) to actually get started.
I've seen Bambu Lab all over YT lately, they seem pretty good to me, but the Ender company also seems to sell DIY printers, so not sure yet... Thanks for the advise!
Lemme forward this thread to my partner! I’m consuming his printing services haha
Imo, get a monitor arm, so you can clear your desk. Wireless peripherals, so you can move them out of the way, get a soldering tray, so you can move to your desk and keep your monitor (ahh see, now it makes sense) for reference. Declutter first, get cozy, then look at expanding. You do soldering and woodworking, so obviously you need tools, tools need an organizer (@valeriavg said 3d printer, defs a great idea for expanding after you clean the clutter), you can also look into modifying your desk? Add some cable organizers, an outlet for your plugging needs, so it's more usable space and you dont need to crawl anywhere. Cant go wrong with another monitor either imo, 2 is the sweet spot, cuz you can have active and static screen at the same time. Imo, ambient lighting (strip LEDs) are overrated, get a clamp light, that you can just move around and point where you need it, if you do fine work regularly, you also get ones on an arm, with a magnifying lens built in, that + a 3rd hand helps alot when soldering!
Monitor arm(s) sounds amazing! I'll might switch to a standing desk at some point anyways and use the L-shaped desk as the workshop one (yes, we have that much more space now lol), so I'm all for having everything attached to the desk itself. As for modifying the desk: Not sure yet - I was thinking about adding an attachment, kinda like a cable box that I can paint in the same color as the desk, but for the entire width of it. That could hide all the cables and double as a nice optic addition. I could even add the LEDs back into that if I wanted :P Having some USB plugs on the thing sounds awesome, too, or even a power outlet. I might hide that under the desk, too, though...
Standing desk could work, beauty of monitor arms, they just move to the new desk. If you're not pressed on space, get yourself 1 of those old filing cabinets, paint it and get organizer boxes for inside it, so you have a tidy organizer for all the bits and bobs
If you go the monitor arms way, the back of your desk is clear. so what you could do, is use Perspex to make a tunnel from 1 end to the other, with a hinged lid, where you run your cables through. it's enclosed and safe, so you can put whatever you like in there and an LED strip across it would give a neat effect and give you a little shelf you can put small things on (eg. I build mini-lego). Having it on the desk also lets you plug things in easier without it getting in the way
I’d focus less on gadgets and more on flow.
A monitor arm and solid cable management will already transform the space more than most “cool setup” items. Then separate a simple “work mode” and “tinker mode” with a quick setup tray for tools and a proper task light.
The real goal isn’t a flashy desk, it’s being able to sit down and start working in seconds, without clearing space first.
You're absolutely right! The thing is, for me, it goes both ways. I usually adapt my setup to my workflow and vice versa. I haven't had the opportunity to start on a clean slate for ages now, so I'm not even sure what I missed out on in terms of possibilities.
I'll keep the advise "sit down and be able to work instantly" as a credo, otherwise I'll likely start to pile up stuff again lol
Dont diy if its for your own place, try zigbee or Xiaomi IoT products, can also integrate with alexa, google etc so everything is centralized and controlled by one phone/computer.
Thanks for the advice! Anything specific you can recommend? I'm a DIY-er at heart - I love the process of building things often-times more than the result itself, but I'll definitely look into the home automation stuff you mentioned, especially Zigbee always looked interesting to me :)
Well if you insist on inventing things overall, arduino UNO or later is great for home automation / IoT.
Also raspberry pi has a ton of built-in OS specific for home automation projects.
Examples are: leak sensors on roof thermometers with smart thermostat that auto-starts the air condition when the room gets too hot, remote-controlled servo-motor blind curtains, the list goes on...and on if you are creative enough.
Try thinking first Bill-of Materials and cost-benefits because of the large amount of hardware/batteries thermistors etc. If you insist on doing this manually/DIY as you mentioned it is going to take a lot of soldering work and a breadboard also for testing the circuits.
Get a decent solder and start soldering :)
PS: Also Node-RED and MQTT are great for IoT hub-notifiers and workflow based home-automation.
Also check out instructables, filled with such projects.
------------------LINKS BELOW------------------
Raspberry Pi -based home automation
Other Rpi information
Congrats on the move, Pascal!
🏡 As a fellow tinkerer who's moved with boxes of cables, dev boards, and random electronics, I know the chaos firsthand.
One thing that saved my sanity was MoveMate app — it's a moving planner that gives you checklists with auto-deadlines (e.g., Germany Anmeldung in 14 days ✅) and lets you sync with your partner. My wife and I used it to split tasks so nothing fell through the cracks. No subscription either — just $2.99 one-time.
For the ultimate setup, I'd add:
Have fun building the new space! 🚀