112
votes

I've been tasked with creating a fun and relaxing environment, one thing I know that I want is ergonomic mice and keyboards, others have suggested exercise balls and bands.

What is it that every programmer needs while working? What might not be necessary but would be nice to have anyway?

Note: this question was asked previously, but has been recommended to be posted here. See this link for the previous responses: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3911911/stuff-every-programmer-needs-while-working-closed

10
  • 3
    Wow what company is that, treat there employees so well! :) Wish I am able to join such a company too!
    – Jiew Meng
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 8:04
  • 38
    Why don't you ask your developers what they want?
    – Thomas Stock
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 11:54
  • 7
    Conjugal visits
    – Greg
    Commented Nov 4, 2010 at 0:29
  • 1
    Nice salary!!!!
    – Amir Rezaei
    Commented Nov 18, 2010 at 10:50
  • 1
    Something that may not have been mentioned - good temperature/humidity/air quality control and nice bathrooms. I, for instance, get more hungry while working during hot summers than cold winters, because the temperature inside is negatively correlated to that of outside. Ideally the correlation should be slightly positive, but still be close to zero.
    – Job
    Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 15:49

90 Answers 90

Reset to default
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280
votes

The Internet

As Joel Spolsky said, "The internet should be as freely available as air."

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  • 10
    @JohnFx, sadly no. In many places, the internet is severely limited under some false notion that it will increase productivity. For programmers however, it is simply a necessity.
    – riwalk
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 20:24
  • 45
    I have a friend where every site that is identified as a "blog" is blocked, even if it's a programming blog. My friend described cases where he searched a problem on google, saw a page that looked like it offered a solution, but was unable to access that page
    – JoelFan
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 20:56
  • 4
    @SpashHit - I would quit so fast it wouldn't even be funny :) My condolences to your "friend" ;)
    – riwalk
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 21:04
  • 14
    @SpashHit: I work in the biggest Italian industry, and there the firewall policy is very dumb. Most of the blogs are blocked, however I can often rely on Google's cache. Also any URL with "sex" is blocked. Luckily I don't have to use expertsexchange :-)
    – Wizard79
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 21:46
  • 7
    This should be the number one answer in my opinion. Dual monitors and so forth are certainly a productivity boost, but if our Internet connection goes down I'm better off taking my 14 inch laptop and heading to the nearest coffee shop with free Wi-Fi.
    – Tim Goodman
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 9:08
266
votes

Dual monitors

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  • 67
    @this.Daniel: "Need" and "Really really helpful" are two similar things. I'm sure you could mow a lawn with scissors, but a mower is really helpful.
    – Josh K
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:02
  • 22
    @ this.Daniel: I'm almost willing to say it is a must if you want to be productive.
    – ysolik
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:02
  • 15
    I've never understood the push for multiple monitors for programmers. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it is because I have a nice large primary monitor, who knows? I'd suggest that the monitor setup is very important though and perhaps a better answer would be to provide some flexibility in display options to the preference of the developer.
    – JohnFx
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:10
  • 25
    I'm trying to get my company to go to 3.
    – Kevin D
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:10
  • 14
    One advantage (for most Windows programmers at least) of dual monitors over big singles is the lack of really excellent window managers. On *Nix, you can break all your toolbars and windows up and scatter them, letting the manager put it together pleasingly for you. On Windows, having an extra monitor is like having a neatly segregate design space so you can have two "full screen" apps running at once and get full use from both.
    – CodexArcanum
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 19:00
230
votes

Smart Colleagues Who Enjoy Debating Solutions

For me, the one thing that makes a fun and relaxing environment is the people you work with. Surrounded with smart people who are passionate about software craftsmanship is a great way to do that. Everything else is like dual monitors, helpful, but not vital.

I find it interesting that most answers (up to this point) are physical things no one has mentioned the benefits of collaboration.

You can develop in a cave, but its easy to lose sight of the big picture.

0
168
votes

A large Whiteboard
Very handy for brainstorming and communicating ideas when working with other developers. Don't know if I could live without mine.

BTW: Those tiny velcro attached CUBE white-boards don't cut it.

7
  • The last company I worked for put me in a large lab. All the walls had hooks for 1m * .6m white boards. It was whiteboard heaven.
    – sixtyfootersdude
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 23:03
  • 3
    I dunno, I never really got into white boarding. For collaborative stuff that can't be managed over IM, iPads seem to do the trick just fine. But I couldn't write something legibly on a whiteboad to save my life :p
    – user5220
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 0:40
  • 2
    We have a 4'x8' chalkboard in the room we work in (we're 3 in this particular space, which is maybe 10'x20') We'd much rather have chalkboards, as they're less messy, and the guys from the cubicles outside don't steal your markers :)
    – Mark
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 19:21
  • I LOVE whiteboards... You don't even need to write! you can draw frenetically as well to show your points :-D
    – Khelben
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 8:16
  • Personally I'd like all the walls in my office to be painted to be whiteboards. Unfortunately my co-worker doesn't agree.
    – user1249
    Commented Oct 18, 2010 at 20:56
151
votes

Ergonomic chair

I think one would definitely need an ergonomic chair since most of your time is spent in front of the PC. If you are using a notebook then a notebook stand would be nice as well.

Sufficient light, not too much noise and coffee :)

9
  • lighting should be optional however, some of us thrive in darkness!
    – Nayrb
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:15
  • 3
    Definitely not too much coffee! :) (I don't like coffee.)
    – thursdaysgeek
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:18
  • @thursdaygeek You're missing out..
    – Daniel
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:20
  • 1
    @this.Daniel: +1 for chair, perhaps the thing my workplace lack the most...
    – Matthieu M.
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 19:14
  • Why a notebook stand?
    – JFW
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 15:57
113
votes

Time Allocated To Research

Be it tooling around with a potentially usable new tool/technology or reading up on a methodology, time to research is critical.

Anecdote:

When I started my current job, Fridays were terrible because all of the evening telemarketing staff worked the day shift on Fridays. I started working at home on Fridays and took 50% of that time at home and devoted it directly to researching. I got up to speed on the codebase, the vendor tools, methodologies that we used in no time and discovered some new techniques/processes that I ended up putting in place to great effect.

2
  • So true. Too few people realize the benefits of taking time to just "tinker around with stuff"
    – riwalk
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 19:10
  • Intriguing. This sounds like a better idea than Google's 20% personal project time.
    – Huperniketes
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 22:48
104
votes

Headphones

alt text

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  • 23
    Can I prefix "noise-cancelling" to that? Many times I don't want music -- I want peace and quiet.
    – Christian Mann
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 19:18
  • 5
    I would think that the ideal workplace being designed would negate the need for headphones.
    – Steven Evers
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 21:29
  • 3
    Good isolating in-ear headphones/earbuds not just for the listener's sake but also for the ones near him. Cheap earbuds tend to "leak" noise so the others hear it too.
    – Fanis Hatzidakis
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 13:27
  • 3
    @JFW: Actually, I find that I'm quite able to remove mechanical noise from the background. Conversations are what push me out of the zone. They're also more difficult to remove mechanically, so meh.
    – Christian Mann
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 17:26
  • 1
    I think headphones can actually be detrimental because of the isolation from the team that it encourages. The best teams I've been a part of were one that had a good amount of technical cross talk.
    – snakehiss
    Commented Dec 19, 2010 at 6:11
97
votes

A Do Not Disturb option

I actually like working in a place where I am not isolated all day long, where I am in tune with what else is going on in the office. But sometimes the thing I need most is the ability to shut out all the noise, and to send a strong " do not interrupt me unless there's a fire" signal.

5
  • 3
    Same here. Headphones all day.
    – Ternary
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 19:25
  • I suppose the "unless there's a fire" bit should be understood both literally and figuratively ?
    – Matthieu M.
    Commented Oct 16, 2010 at 14:29
  • I was going to answer "Quiet" but this works even better.
    – AnonJr
    Commented Oct 16, 2010 at 17:40
  • @Matthiew - I once worked in a place where the one area where you couldn't hear a fire alarm was where all the test equipment was. Also, I have Aspergers - and one of the symptoms is that when I'm "hyperfocussed" (can be much the same as "in the zone", though not always) people can literally shout into my ear and I won't hear. I have failed to notice a smoke alarm going off fifteen feet away before. And that's without my ear defenders for my (really, no joke) sensitivity to some quiet sounds. Neurological wiring issues can be a bit paradoxical.
    – user8709
    Commented Dec 7, 2010 at 13:49
  • I used to have a little sign that said "Piss Off, I'm Busy". For some reason other people didn't like it.
    – LRE
    Commented Jan 16, 2011 at 4:57
75
votes

Proper Lighting

Either Natural, incandescent or indirect/diffused lighting is a big plus for me. Flourescent lighting makes me feel like I'm in a sweatshop and gives me a headache.

11
  • Depends on the fixture too. For example, florescent in one of those "Mirrored Squares" (i.e. hitecsystems.co.uk/lights1.JPG ) fixtures is fine....
    – Billy ONeal
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 21:18
  • 5
    Hey I love fluorescent lighting. Yellow light gives me a headache.
    – Autodidact
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 4:28
  • @SDX2000: IMO the problem is not in fluorescent lighting by itself but in it almost always being done wrong. It is usually too bright and of wrong color temperature. And since it's almost always done wrong I have to not like it.
    – sharptooth
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 11:51
  • 2
    @sharptooth - Not to mention the inevitable crappy ballast that makes it flicker.
    – JohnFx
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 13:41
  • 1
    I hate incandescent lightning. It's too dark and doesn't blend well with the light from the screen. Fluorescent all the way.
    – EpsilonVector
    Commented Dec 13, 2010 at 13:53
74
votes
  1. Silence.
  2. Silence.
  3. Silence.
  4. A flat keyboard + any number of gadgets wanted by the programmer (and this varies).
  5. Own office.
  6. Freedom from ridiculous inquiries by non-tech staff, including some clueless (technology-wise) CEOs.
  7. Access to educational resources, like books.
  8. Headphones and a large share with selection of great music.
  9. Free food is appreciated, though not necessarily a major plus.
  10. Ability to work with cool technologies, whether it's just the cutting edge release of a framework, or implementing a fuzzy controller for sorting numbers (I know this is a very dumb example, it's here for illustration purposes).
  11. Silence.
  12. A no-noise environment
  13. Coworkers who do not speak
  14. Call-out-only phone
  15. Quiet working environment.
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  • 51
    You forgot to mention silence, but +1 anyway. ;)
    – Adam Lear ♦
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 19:33
  • 3
    @Ann - right, let me stress the importance of silence :D
    – Jas
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 19:47
  • 6
    How about a trap door that is keyed to activate by voice recognition of the words "Do you have a sec?"
    – JohnFx
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 4:32
  • 6
    @JohnFx, how about a trap door activated by human voice alone? :D
    – Jas
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 10:18
  • 5
    I like a noisy chaotic environment. Silence makes me want to kill myself I know I'm on my own on this one.
    – rerun
    Commented Oct 16, 2010 at 2:09
66
votes

Latest generation hardware, such as solid-state drives.

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  • 50
    1. Borrow an SSD to a friend. 2. Install it in your current computer. 3. Open the current project you are working on. 4. Build it. 5. Tell your friend you are sorry but someone stole your the SSD in the street.
    – user2567
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:56
  • 1
    Yes, it will change your life. Believe me. I was suspiscious myself before I saw the results.
    – user2567
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 9:02
  • 4
    From 2 times to 4 times faster for disk intensive operations such as building a project.
    – user2567
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 16:18
  • 1
    An alternative is a very fast Raptor drive.
    – invert
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 12:59
  • 2
    Rob Perkins: Your argument hardly makes any sense. Only developers of desktop machines could ever fall for the "fast enough" fallacy, but even if you just consider this special case, it depends on the skills of the developer to get it right. I might argue that a faster machine allows the developer to work faster, so he has more time to tinker with optimizations.
    – user281377
    Commented Mar 10, 2011 at 19:10
60
votes

A door.

Seriously, everybody should have an office with a door they can shut when they really, really need to get some work done. You can leave it open most of the day, but for those times when you're carrying a lot of state in your head and you really don't care about some random media event or sub-culture in-joke, you need a door you can close.

I also like a good solid wall I can kick if I need to, but that's probably just me.

6
  • 4
    A cubicle drone who constantly has people walking behind him, peeking in on what I'm doing, having "hallway meetings" in the hall right beside me, and so on, I can attest at how much more productive and comfortable I'd feel with a door.
    – CodexArcanum
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 19:25
  • What about a window? or windows ;)
    – pramodc84
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 4:14
  • I often use a meeting room when I need to get stuff done. The rest of the time I like the social side of sharing an office, but never with more than 3 other people.
    – Martin Brown
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 15:19
  • 1
    @pramodc84, I'd sacrifice a window for a door any day :)
    – riwalk
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 19:11
  • Earplugs! Or noise-cancelling earphones with just almost nothing playing.
    – user1249
    Commented Oct 22, 2010 at 6:53
54
votes

Coffee Machine

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  • 4
    I don't think it matters as long as you have access to freshly brewed coffee :)
    – ysolik
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:04
  • 17
    Coffee machine on the desk is a bad thing. I speak as someone who spent a summer in a windowless two-person cubicle with a coffee machine and an inexhaustible supply of cream & sugar at arm's length. That was when I learned what waking upon the weekend with caffeine withdrawal was like.
    – Michael H.
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:06
  • 2
    Boooo, caffeine is bad for your programmer's mind. It makes your thought processes stumble. Drink yerba mate', or just a glass of water, or juice. You'll notice how much better concentration you have.
    – Trip
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 10:35
  • 7
    This comes under the heading of "Things programmers want but probably shouldn't have for their own health"
    – Martin Brown
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 15:15
  • 1
    Caffeine is certainly one of my biggest productivity boosters. It actually helps me focus much better than I do without. But I think finding the right balance on this is a highly personal thing. For me it's best to have a big, hot cup of coffee in the morning and not much else until the afternoon, then it's tea only. If I deviate from this I'm sure to slow down.
    – SingleNegationElimination
    Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 18:58
48
votes

A life outside of work.

3
  • 25
    Sadly this is often something that the programmers need to realise as much as the management.
    – Martin Brown
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 15:24
  • 6
    Too many companies put a ball-and-chain on the developers by expecting them to be on call 24x7, handle emergencies at night, then be in the office the next morning. And then the companies are surprised when the developers get lousy attitudes, lose productivity or quit to go somewhere else that pays a lot more and doesn't put them on call at all.
    – the Tin Man
    Commented Oct 17, 2010 at 7:56
  • 2
    Life? What's that?
    – LRE
    Commented Jan 16, 2011 at 5:25
47
votes

A Bench Outside

Seriously, sometimes the grind gets heavy, a problem is too hard, and you just need sunshine, air, and a moment to think while listening to cars drive by. Nothing like a quiet place just off to the side of the building to go and think for a moment.

6
  • 23
    What's this "sunshine" you you speak of?
    – Wonko the Sane
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 20:16
  • I would add roof access to this if you are in a taller building. I just find something relaxing about chilling out at the top of the world
    – WalterJ89
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 22:00
  • 4
    aka: smoke break for frazzled programmers.
    – user3792
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 4:08
  • 1
    @CodexArcanum Awesome! So zen, so true.
    – Trip
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 10:37
  • 6
    I prefer a place to walk instead of a place to sit. Nothing unblocks a tough problem like a nice walk.
    – pkaeding
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 2:58
44
votes

A Training Plan

We're all expected to know everything about everything, new and old. More often than not, we're expected to do so at our own time and expense. Oh, sure, I was occasionally allowed to attend a conference, so long as it was 1.) free, and 2.) didn't take any time.

I find that one thing I'd love to have is a training allotment of not only money, but time. A small investment (a week and a class fee) by the employer pays off not only in increased knowledge and productivity, but also morale, and I'd argue even loyalty. Why go somewhere else if you are letting me grow as an engineer?

4
  • 1
    @underdark: Please, tell 99 of your friends... :)
    – Wonko the Sane
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 19:54
  • Ditto that +100. Asking us to pay for our own books and training is too much. Some companies make a token attempt of providing training by offering classes that appeal to some HR person or VP who is out of touch but don't give us any useful knowledge for the day-to-day tasks or future growth we want.
    – the Tin Man
    Commented Oct 17, 2010 at 7:53
  • Conferences that are free and don't take any time? Sounds like a nothing to me!
    – Alan Pearce
    Commented Nov 18, 2010 at 16:47
  • Even more ridiculous than having providing a reasonable training plan is the offering of those shtty online courses. They're just glorified powerpoint presentations.
    – going
    Commented Dec 20, 2010 at 1:07
37
votes

The programmers bill of rights

1
35
votes

A manager who takes care of the knuckle-head stuff: endless meetings, repetitive and easily answered tech-support questions, requests to "fix my computer", etc.

When I was a manager, I made it clear that no one was to disturb my programmers or schedule them in a meeting without coming to me first.

2
  • 8
    I really like that last part...
    – bakoyaro
    Commented Nov 28, 2010 at 5:28
  • Amen! I despise meetings. They so frequently accomplish nothing.
    – Scott Arrington
    Commented Dec 7, 2010 at 21:59
33
votes

Testers, Sysadmins and Tech Support

Obviously in some shops these will be a given, but for smaller setups, programmers are an order of magnitude more productive if they don't have to deal with anything other than their code.

4
  • -1 for "Testers". You should test your code. Programmers shouldn't just write code and throw it over the fence to testers.
    – Victor Hurdugaci
    Commented Oct 16, 2010 at 16:48
  • agreed they should, but they shouldn't be the only ones doing it, and they shouldnt be testing 100% of the functionality with every change cause its boring and leads to burnout... I know i get really lazy and do a bad job when i 'know' that a change i made could 'only possibly affect x' so i test x and say 'it works!' and then someone tests y and finds my change broke y and I'm really glad i had someone else testing - I wouldn't want that code in production but there was no way I'd have found it caus i was convinced i couldn't have broken it...
    – tobyodavies
    Commented Oct 17, 2010 at 0:35
  • I don't mind setting up a host if it's for my development environment. A good Linux distro, like Ubuntu, makes it pretty easy to configure and load necessary libraries for Perl, Python and Ruby. I hate it when I'm saddled with old distributions that can't compile new versions of apps. Then hours are lost trying to get things running and the sysops won't help because "it's not standard."
    – the Tin Man
    Commented Oct 17, 2010 at 7:59
  • 3
    @Victor Hurdugaci: I disagree...most of the troubles I run in are scenarios which I couldn't even think up because I wrote the software. Additionally, clients like to throw angrily stuff at my head after three months because "they could never really work with it", which could have easily been avoided if somebody else would have looked at it (or the clients would have opened their mouth). I can test my software for functionality, but not for usability.
    – Bobby
    Commented Oct 18, 2010 at 22:02
26
votes

An Expense Account

5
  • 7
    And you know, it doesnt have to be a lot. But its a real PITA if the company requires you to go through a bunch of hoops just to register a $30 text editor or something.
    – GrandmasterB
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 20:23
  • Agreed, as it really sucks if you need to go through a 3 week approval proces to get a replacement drive for your RAID array. Which then throws another drive while you wait. Hot Spares FTW!
    – Nick Haslam
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 15:29
  • I understand the need here, but honestly most programmers I know have no concept of budgets or ROI. That said, the programmers direct line manager should have that approval AND take care of all the paperwork. It shouldn't slow you down, but a lot of places would buckle if programmers got everything on this list with no consideration for the cost and how it compared to the income being generated. A dual monitor, solid state drive, MacBook Pro might increase productivity but if you are not generating any income where is the $5k coming from.
    – Bill Leeper
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 17:30
  • @Nick Haslam: worse if it comes out of the syadmin's budget because it's hardware... you'll never get that drive.
    – Steven Evers
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 20:55
  • What, you use stuff you have to pay for? I don't because I can get a complete working system the way I want in an afternoon rather than the 4 weeks it takes to get approval for purchase.
    – Christopher Mahan
    Commented Oct 22, 2010 at 6:17
24
votes

A breakout area.

Somewhere where you can walk away from your desk and really chill out for a bit.

4
  • 3
    But it should be noted that this is not a place to be having meetings.
    – Martin Brown
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 15:20
  • 1
    Ping pong table? couch? Xbox!
    – Michael K
    Commented Nov 1, 2010 at 19:47
  • 1
    @Michael, what adorns the room I think is secondary to actually having somewhere to go.
    – Toby
    Commented Nov 2, 2010 at 8:54
  • And not somewhere stuck in the middle that is used as a corridor.
    – Tom Hawtin - tackline
    Commented Dec 13, 2010 at 16:55
21
votes

Paper and pencil and eraser!

There are things that you just can't help but express better on paper. Initial drawings, sketches, etc.

3
  • 3
    See also: Whiteboard.
    – Jared Updike
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 22:00
  • See also: Recursion.
    – Thomas Eding
    Commented Mar 10, 2011 at 18:28
  • I work better with paper; I just can't draw well on whiteboards.
    – Donal Fellows
    Commented May 25, 2011 at 15:04
19
votes

The Ability to use whatever editor/IDE that you prefer

4
  • 9
    I'm not sure about this one. It depends on what language/environment you're using. If the notion of a "project" of files is built into the IDE, then you may have to use the standard IDE with everyone else. Context will matter here.
    – Michael H.
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 6:12
  • I agree with @khedron. I would also note that complete freedom is probably not the greatest things for developers.
    – msarchet
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 14:45
  • What @khedron said. If the project can be managed with, say, make, then fire away with whatever IDE/editor of your liking. But if the project involves multiple developers and there build is non-trivial and based on say, ant or maven, your team needs to standardize on an IDE that supports either. Obviously you can use any editor to modify individual files. But push come to shove, you have to operate with standard IDE so that you don't mess up the project for everyone else.
    – luis.espinal
    Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 22:28
  • I think you can have your cake and eat it too. Even if you do most of the project related work in VS, you can still do the actual editing in vim. Many IDE's even allow you to specify the text editor you wish to use.
    – SingleNegationElimination
    Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 19:02
19
votes

Every programmer needs an employer who is willing to send them to conferences (and cover expenses).

16
votes

Meeting/Conference Rooms

If your programmers are going to be sharing a space, you might want some smaller conference room(s) off to the side for groups to meet and discuss projects without interfering with others.

1
  • 1
    That doesn't require you to sign up for it.
    – Michael K
    Commented Nov 1, 2010 at 19:48
15
votes

A nice note book for taking notes with a pen or a pencil. As much as I love computers, I find having a nice note book for writing down ideas, taking notes during meetings, diagram drawings, etc. absolutely indispensable.

2
  • Lined or unlined? I have a stack of 3-hole punched printer paper on the shelf above my desk for diagrams and the like.
    – Christian Mann
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 17:29
  • @Christian Mann: I prefer hardcover lined note books. Something that's sturdy and cannot be easily torn.
    – ysolik
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 17:46
13
votes

A great reference library

Google is great for many things, but it's no substitute for a good collection of books. Searchable EBooks preferred, like the O'Reilly Safari collection.

12
votes

Great tools. Be it editors, debuggers, compilers, OS, VCS whatever we are most comfortable and productive with.

Open standards. This gives us flexibility to use tools of our choice to work with. So no MS Exchange emails solution, no doc, docx, xls, ...

Simple processes. The mundane should be either taken care, or the process should be simple enough so as not to come in between what we love the most.

Extra chair, available nearby. Very useful if we want to discuss something with your peer or during code reviews.

Biggest baddest monitor you can get. Get as much screen real estate as possible. Whatever helps us see more code at once. This includes dual/multiple monitors, though I personally find it difficult to use multiple monitors. So I prefer one single large high resolution monitor.

Comfortable keyboard and mouse placed at proper height and distance.

White board, notepad (preferably unruled), pencil (a pen will not do, most admins fail to see the difference), board markers (multiple colors) ...

The usual stuff that applies to any other desk job - proper lighting, air circulation, space, regular supply of fresh coffee, quiet environment, ...

11
votes

An expensive but very good thing to have is an electrically height adjustable desk. Allows the developers to work sitting as normal or raise the desk (with the touch of a button) to a height that lets them work standing up.

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  • I'd like to try something like that to know if it is that great. I suspect it is, but how can I recommend it if I've never tried it?
    – thursdaysgeek
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:20
  • I'll admit I've not tried one either, I've known people who have though and they rave about them. I just can't persuade my company to shell out the money.
    – Kevin D
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:23
  • And would also (I assume) allow those of us who are somewhat vertically challenged to be comfortable while sitting down.
    – Adam Lear ♦
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 16:27
  • Airtouch or Airtouch Electric...everyone in my office has one. Well most of the building actually. Well, company.
    – Nick T
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 17:45
  • Care to add some links to your favorites?
    – Pat
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 15:09
10
votes

You don't say what technology stack you'll be working in but:

MSDN License

or

Licenses to any software/tool required

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