How I do my work

I love learning how people set themselves up for productivity and work. I figured I would contribute to that collection by adding how I do my work. I am not an expert, and I change things regularly. Depending on when you read this, I may have changed my setup.

Computer

Most of my work (90%) is done on a computer. I have several machines, and I often add to the collection from eBay finds. I have long been a Unix OS user by way of Mac. Macs may be my preferred setup, but their price is a huge barrier. My main work is done on a Dell Precision Tower using Pop!_OS. I use Linux for almost everything nowadays because of the bloat of OSs like Windows. I don’t use a desktop Mac because of the price and the lack of upgradability. I prefer to build my computers when I can.

Pop!_OS is a very user-friendly fork of Ubuntu - yet much more privacy. I am not a privacy and security activist, but I prefer to keep my data mine. I also run pop on a 2013 Lenovo Thinkpad T440p - a beefy but excellent laptop. This laptop has become my daily driver. I still have a 2020 Macbook Pro but don’t use it much. I am trying to determine if I can part with it.

Although I use Linux and open-source software as much as possible, my desktop does dual boot into Windows 10. I use Windows for tasks like making diagrams in Illustrator and using other proprietary software. This is a necessary evil.

Writing

I do not use Microsoft Word, or really any WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) word processor - LibreOffice included. I do the majority of my writing with LaTeX (LAH-Tek). LaTeX is a typesetting system often used in math, physics, and computer science. I mostly use Overleaf, an online LaTeX editor. I don’t prefer web applications; however, Overleaf makes accessing documents from any computer easy. If I am working offline, I use a simple text editor (sublime text, Notepad++, VSCode, emacs, etc.) with a spell-check plugin. I write my files and either upload them to Overleaf or copy and paste them.

Data Analysis

I use Python for most data analysis tasks. Python is much more powerful than Excel for my purposes. My main coding setup is VSCode, with the addition of Jupyter Notebooks for easy and quick coding. I occasionally use Anaconda/Jupyter Lab for data analysis, but installing Anaconda on Linux machines is painful, to say the least. For image processing, I use ImageJ and Fiji.

Other Software

Being a primarily non-windows user, I use QGIS for GIS tasks. I do often import maps into Illustrator to do the final touches.

Final Thoughts

Finding a workflow that balances your needs and practical limitations is hard. I think my setup works well for my use case, but I could certainly see it changing in the future. Generally, I use free-and-open-source software for its mission and often low, if not zero, price tag.

If you have any questions about my setup, reach out.