Interview with Ergodox

Calum Gathergood

Android Developer

Who are you, and what do you do?

Hey there, my name is Calum Gathergood and I’m a Scottish Software Developer who escaped the cold and is now living in Sydney, Australia. I predominately focus on native Android development but frequently delve into iOS, Python, React Native and more recently Go. I’m a big fan of emerging technologies and have recently been playing around with AR and AI.

What hardware do you use?

I try to stand as much as possible when working: Believe it or not, humans weren’t designed to be sitting for more than eight hours a day! Since I enjoy software development and hope to keep on doing it for the next few decades I’ve invested in my health by trying to make my setup as ergonomic as possible. I use a Logitech MX Ergo which I can’t recommend highly enough, it’s a great mouse and highly customisable (just like the ErgoDox EZ).

Since I don’t want my fellow coworkers to resent me, I took the stealthy option and have my ErgoDox EZ fitted with Cherry MX Silent Reds. This is a great option if you want a mechanical keyboard whilst maintaining peace and prosperity in the office.

Setup

I’m running a 15” 2015 MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM at work. I can hopefully upgrade once the touchbar fad is over. At home I have a 13” 2016 MBP (no touchbar thanks very much) which I mostly use for playing with new tech, the odd game of Civilization and discovering dog gifs.

And what software?

I’m a devout Jetbrains fanboy through and through. On a daily basis I uses Android Studio, Webstorm, PyCharm and DataGrip, but I’m happy enough to dive into Vim for certain tasks. Once you learn a few useful shortcuts it’s super easy to switch between all of these apps whilst staying efficient. As for anything terminal, it’s gotta be iTerm with the fantastic Oh My Zsh, I highly recommend the git plugin!

What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?

Board

The first thing I did with my ErgoDox EZ was to hook up play/pause/next commands for Spotify. This means I can switch song without taking my eyes off of my code. I’ve moved the Delete and Space keys to my thumbs and have a beautiful pair of Walnut Keycaps so that they stand out. Other than this I haven’t made a ton of modifications but once or month or so I’ll experiment with some new layouts. This is my current layout.

Keycap

What would be your dream setup?

First of all I’d get one of the new ErgoDox EZ’s for home so I can swap out the switches when I please! Once satellite internet is prevalent I’d love to move out away from the city somewhere quiet where I can work remotely, be close to the beach, own a couple of dogs and finally buy some loud keyswitches!