Desk Evolution 2022

Over the years at Reclaim, my desk/workspace has seen several iterations. I’ve worked through CoWork, the dedicated Reclaim Hosting office, then shifted to work from home at the beginning of the pandemic and back to the Reclaim Office. Reclaim recently went “fully remote” (as if the pandemic made this transition easier), where we retired the physical office space and allow all employees to work remote.

Reclaim always had some idea of a remote company back in it’s history, really since it began. When I joined the team back in 2017, the team was still scattered across the world, and we had just started renovations on CoWork. I clearly remember Tim and I huddled in the back corner of the space to avoid all the construction noise. Once the summer rolled around CoWork was in full swing, and my desk space was super flexible where I would need to grab a different desk per day. Then I took over office management of CoWork and I had my own dedicated desk with a monitor and everything! It took me maybe 2 years at Reclaim before I got one and I’ve never looked back. Stay tuned to see how many screens I’m up to now (LOL).

After CoWork shut down, we shifted to moving into Reclaim’s dedicated office! Or so we thought… The week after we moved in and were expecting to start working in the space, we made the tough choice to start working from home at the start of the COIVD19 pandemic.

My desk changed once again! I decided I’d spend some time with my parents for a couple of weeks, and I had a friendly face with me for a bit! He definitely made writing tickets a little bit harder (spoiler alert he loves keyboards).

 

After that, I went back home and had to figure out where I could work. I was living in an apartment with a couple of roommates at the time and we all needed to balance working from home in the same space. I moved to the dining room, then made some space in my room for the final evolution.

I will say working from home was rough at first. Going from working with people in an office, not just Reclaim Hosting employees, but the other CoWork members was so fun. I’d spent more time moving things across the building to our new space than I’d spent working in the space to start so I was sad to move from home. I was excited to shift to Reclaim Employees to Reclaim’s space! I also needed that extra “commute” time to shift my mindset from work time to “home” time, that I would get while driving home. I couldn’t get that mindset shift when I worked and lived in the same space. It took me some time to work through being intentional with that change, I found that as long as I had the dedicated space within my home, I could work through the transition. All about that balance!! (2022 mantra). So I finished out the work from home time with a dedicated workspace!

In July 2020 I shifted back to the office and worked in the space until 2022, when Reclaim Arcade commandeered the space, ever so slowly. I felt like I would come into the office after a long weekend, and there was a new arcade cabinet in the space LOL

I kid, I kid, but in all honesty, Reclaim Arcade has expanded is so cool to see, and Fredericksburg needed an old-school arcade!

Then in 2022, my desk space changed into its current form, in a permanent work from home space. I moved in with my partner and we began envisioning what that space would look like. With us both working in the Tech space, we wanted a space that was flexible but also multifunctional. I’ll get into a more technical mindset in my next post, to walk through how I actually use a dual-platform with 2 monitors, using my Mac at work, then my PC for fun stuff for gaming. I also just added the PS5 in the back so that’s fun too!

I’m pretty happy with how this turned out! The WFH transition was much easier this time, where I have more of a routine with the pup to help me break up the workday and finish up the day. And I have a built-in coworker with me (when he isn’t commuting). I also have a permanent space this time, where I know my desk isn’t going to change in a matter of time.

I also just love looking through other people’s workspaces and how it works for them, so I’ve spent many an hour watching desk setup videos on YouTube. Lots of Inspiration came from them LOL So stay tuned for a little Tech Spec on how I make this space run!