Tools of the Trade is a weekly feature in which people reveal the top secret contents of their messenger bags, apps they use everyday, and/or their workstations.
Back in the grand era of steam ships, the captain would feast in the State Dining Room with the guests while the chief engineer and crew would toil in the grimy, hot boiler rooms below. As a tip of our hat to the people who make the engines roar within the tech startup world, we’re giving some much deserved attention to arguably two of the best developers in Atlanta: Rob Forman and Tim Dorr of SalesLoft.
Here’s what they use to create magic on the Interwebs:
Rob Forman, SalesLoft
Twitter: @rob4manhere
Most used apps: Evernote, Trello, and Twitter (besides Mail/Safari of course)
What he wants from his workspace:
A comfortable and adjustable chair is first. I can set just the right height and tension so I’m at desk level and comfortable for hours at a time. I like a minimalist desk (ie table) free of clutter. I use a large 27″ thunderbolt display. Its crisp and bright to reduce eyestrain, as well as powers my MacBook so I can leave my cord at home. 27″ is a great size to facilitate a development workflow with lots of windows open, ie code, terminal, browser, documentation, etc. I like the standard Apple usb keyboard because of its shallow key press depth and its quiet. I use a laptop stand to put my MacBook is at eye level and prevent looking up/down/etc. I use a logitech mouse with their Unify usb plug so I can have one at work and home. Finally, I use noise canceling headphones when I need to concentrate (I love Pandora- it just keeps playing with having to think about choosing music), and I also have a pad of paper and pen for doodling through a problem.
- Aeron Chair by Herman Miller
- IKEA Table
- 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display
- Apple Thunderbolt Retina Display
- Apple USB Keyboard with numeric pad
- Bose QuietComfort® 15 Acoustic Noise Canceling headphones
- Logitech M325 Wireless Mouse
- Laptop mStand
Tim Dorr, SalesLoft
Twitter: @timdorr
Most used apps: Gmail, Chrome, and Messaging
What he wants from his workspace:
I’m big on simplicity and cleanliness. I’m constantly removing anything that adds clutter to my desk. As such, I only have a few items on my desk. My laptop is hooked up to an external display, which has a keyboard attached and a wireless mouse (an Apple Magic Mouse, as I haven’t found a good wired mouse to replace it). I also put my iPad on a stand and attach a set of headphones. I use this as a second screen for background music or TV shows, as I work in an open office plan and using headphones is key to avoiding distraction. And that’s everything. I spend 99% of my time at my desk is concentrated on my computer screen, so I seek to avoid any distractions surrounding it. In fact, someone left a pair of earbuds on the corner of my desk, so I’m going to go remove that now.
[Photo Credit: Emily Detrick/Hypepotamus]
