Developer & Content Creator Desk Setup in Southwest France

Name: Tim Benniks

Location: Southwest France

Occupation: Principal developer advocate at a startup, video creator, streamer, conference speaker

Room size: 32 m² (345 ft²)

Social media: LinkedIn, GitHub, Twitter, YouTube

Website: Tim Benniks

Hello! Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m leading the developer-advocacy initiative at a Silicon Valley startup called Uniform.

It redefines the architectures for building websites at scale by orchestrating the composable blocks in a modern stack.

In my role, I represent developers within and outside Uniform on the benefits of using its tools.

Since Uniform operates in a new product category (think Airbnb when we only understood hotels), I focus on high-level thought leadership through speaking engagements at conferences and videos.

What spurred my current gig was a 15-year career at ad agencies in Amsterdam and Paris, complete with frequent interactions with global clients like Nike, Heineken, Google, Tommy Hilfiger, EA Games, CHANEL, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Louis Vuitton, and Hermès.

At one point, I was named global director of web development at one of those agencies, with the first order of business being to ensure that all 48 offices accepted me as their tech leader.

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That was no cakewalk, and it kicked off with my representing developers worldwide in many projects.

I helped put out fires and gave conference talks that highlighted the agency’s strengths and contributions.

In the interim, I started a YouTube channel and soon learned that the community had much more to offer me than the other way around.

Feel free to check out my presentations, posts, and videos at timbenniks.dev or follow me on Twitter.

Take us through your setup

My wife and I recently moved from Paris to the middle of nowhere in the French countryside.

Two essential requirements for living there are reliable internet and space for my studio.

Our place is on a hill overlooking a valley with a 4G tower on the other end and a leaky garage with potential. Score!

My maker station serves as a place for me to —

• Write code, live stream, and handle day-to-day routines.
• Create video content, which calls for space for an entire video set.
• Hobnob with colleagues and afford them a place to work when they visit.

Hence, I needed at least 30 m², which was, through sheer luck, available in the form of that leaky old garage.

Given our remote location and the COVID pandemic, it took months of collaboration with a local builder to get everything ready.

My main desk is a sit-stand one because, since I work there a lot, switching between sitting and standing is essential.

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On the desk are studio monitors, an audio interface, multiple lights, a fancy camera, a dynamic microphone, a custom keyboard, a big screen, and a MacBook, a computer that facilitates my frequent participation at conferences.