A lot of people ask what setup I have for both my work as a Serverless Consultant and as a Youtuber – So here you go.
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Office Setup
Laptop – I’ve just upgraded to the Mackbook M1 Pro. It’s super fast (useful for video editing) and has insane battery life (useful for working on the road). I moved to Mac from Ubuntu 4 years ago and wouldn’t go back. More reliable and user friendly than Ubuntu and so many other developers use it that it just makes sense
Monitors – I just went pretty basic with this and got a pair of 27 inch monitors. I went with the ones with the lowest power draw I could find for when were travelling in the van.
Desk – I have a standing desk from Autonomous.ai and I love it. I went with the Pro Frame Kit and bought my own top (solid oak). In reality, I didn’t need such a big desk but I really like having the extra space. It has 4 memory settings which I use for sitting, standing, video recording and then one setting for my girlfriend to stand.
Chair – When I got my first good developer job I saved up and got a Herman Miller Aeron second hand. Since you often spend 8hrs a day sitting down, investing in something that would really support a good posture was really useful. It was expensive but I’ve now had it for 4 years and would buy another one if this ever broke. If I really couldn’t afford a Herman Miller and couldn’t find a second-hand one then I’d probably try the Autonomous chairs.
Keyboard and Mouse – This is something I’ve got quite a strong opinion on. With all of my climbing, sitting at a normal keyboard really inflames my elbows and wrists. That’s why I use the Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard with an Ergonomic Mouse. It does feel pretty weird to get started but I don’t know if I could go back now.
Dock – Hooking this all together I have the Caldigit TS3 – but I wish I got the TS3 Plus. It means I can connect one USB C cable to my laptop and I get two extra screens, mouse and keyboard, headphones, multiple extra USB ports and dedicated mic input.
Software Tools
Courses
I host all of my courses on Kajabi. I’d used other tools before but this one brings everything together. It has awesome course tools, built-in email automation, website, a landing page builder and more. It is more expensive than other course platforms but it saves me from having 5 different tools and has been really reliable.
Website
Whilst I love building software, I’m not a fan of designing and building my own website. For that, I use WordPress and host it on BlueHost. It’s cheap and reliable and that’s all I need for simple websites.
Youtube Setup
Camera – I’ve just upgraded to the Panasonic GH5ii as it is able to level up my video game to 4k and more but is still pretty compact.
Mic and Audio Recorder – This was the biggest upgrade when I started Youtube. I got a lapel mic and it sounded a lot cleaner. The issue was that the audio from my laptop and from the camera always sounded different. So I got the Zoom H1n audio recorder and what a difference it made. It was less obvious when I switches from talking to a camera to recording at the computer.
Lights – I just got some budget light box video lights from amazon and they work great. They are pretty large so I’ve also bought a smaller LED Light for filming when we’re in the van, although it’s still pretty powerful.
Editing – I use Davinci Resolve. Mainly because I don’t want to pay a monthly fee to use Premier Pro, but also because there were a lot of comparisons out there saying that Davinci is actually pretty comparable to the paid options. If you’re getting into Youtube and want an upgrade to movie maker or iMovie then check out Davinci.