Timo TijhofInterview
Principal Engineer (Wikimedia Foundation)
Adapted from Timo Tijhof's interview on Uses This, published 7 October 2020. The kit is drawn from their answers and each reason is an excerpt, lightly edited. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full interview ↗
Is this you? Claim this kit →Hardware
My computer is a 15-inch MacBook Pro (2015 model) with 16 GB of RAM and a 500 GB drive.
My work desk - I work at home - is an IKEA BEKANT, where I place the laptop on an old wooden tea chest.
I use Bose QuietComfort 25 headphones for meetings, and for when I need a quiet zone.
My phone is an iPhone SE I've had since 2016, and yes, I suppose that portrays me as one of those stubborn folk who refuse to let go of the iPhone 5 form factor.
Beyond the above; I have an AirPods case nearby for podcast listening, and a paper notebook to negotiate with my past and future self.
I use WD Elements Portable drives for backups and offline storage.
Communication
Productivity
For organic discovery of articles outside my circles I rely on social media, which I interact with through the Pinafore web app.
Browser
On desktop I currently browse with Firefox.
On mobile I use Firefox Focus as my main browser.
For the handful of sites where I want to be logged-in, I have a folder of Safari shortcuts.
Notes
I help build, design, and maintain the MediaWiki software, currently focusing on web performance.
Security
I use KeeWeb for offline sensitive data.
Coding & Development
But, as it's still a slow-starting Electron app, Sublime remains my go-to editor to instantly open any file or directory from the command-line.
Media
Storage
Other
I work as a principal engineer for Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind Wikipedia and its sister projects.
I take regular breaks with the help of Time Out.