5 Occupations That Use Ridiculously Cool Workstations
Those that have been following my new Medium account have probably got the idea already that I’m “into” multimonitor computing.
I’ve cataloged possible VESA mount/array configurations, posted some of my favorite battlestations from /r/battlestations, and offered some GPU recommendations to take you from man-hunched-over-laptop in coffee shop to looking like a day trader in a Wall Street investment bank.
Speaking of day traders in Wall Street investment banks, these are precisely the type of people I draw inspiration from. People that take multimonitor computing to its furthest limits. People like these guys:
In the interest of helping you dig up your own selection of I-need-that-many-screens galleries, let me explain which occupations and professions — from my own observations — tend to have the most outrageously good workstations.
1. 911 Dispatchers
911 dispatchers are the everyday heroes you get through to whenever you call emergency services.
Evidently, these guys need a lot of screen real estate: to keep track of incoming calls and dispatch ambulances, police units, and fire engines to the right locations.
I’m trying hard to only embed images in this post that are in the public domain. But — for national pride’s sake — I must include a link to this workstation from the National Operations Center of Magen David Adom (Israel’s national ambulance service) which was in the news recently as a result of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
If you’re looking to set up something similar in your command center-esque home office then check out the Chief Kontour K4 6x1 (six mounts, $1,359) and the Chief Kontour K4 5x1 (five mounts, $1,165).
And here are some photos of 911 dispatchers that are in the public domain.
Tink Air Force Base
2. Airline Dispatchers
Flight dispatchers (also known as airline dispatchers) are the unseen hands that take care of all the logistical hard work of keeping commercial aircraft in the sky. They assist with planning flight paths, helping airliners avoid turbulence, and dealing with local airport restrictions.
That kind of workload translates to screenage-real-estate-galore.
3. Stock Traders (And Financial Analysts)
Every time the NASDAQ rallies or crashes it seems that news broadcasts the world over tend to cut to stock footage of an institutional trader observing the markets in front of an enormous array.
There’s good reason why these setups are so ubiquitous in the world of finance and day trading: for those taking short term positions on financial markets, the more information the better.
Traders tend to use their massive screen real estate to monitor both qualitative and quantitative feeds. These include plenty of charts, news broadcasts, and closed networks.
4. TV Control Rooms
Those producing live television typically need to monitor many video fees simultaneously and choose which to include in the broadcast stream.
Typically, these screen arrays consist of many wall-mounted flatscreen LED TVs, but I’m giving them an honorary inclusion in this list.
5. Radiologists and Medical Imaging Professionals
The next time you go in for medical imaging, spare a thought for the radiologist interpreting the output of your scan.
Radiologists are highly trained doctors that specialize in diagnosing and treating disease using various medical imaging technologies, including X-rays, CT, scans, PET scans, and MRIs.
Because they often need to compare an entire set of images, they also tend to be equipped with some pretty respectable workstations in the “reading rooms” where they look at patient imagery.
Here’s one floating around Google Images:
Have I Missed Any?
I’m always on the lookout for inspiring workstations to add to my Google Photos stash. I have developed a bit of an unhealthy obsession with seeing how those at work have configured their monitors — but the workstations, and the important jobs these professionals do with their help, are inspiring.
Drop me a line if you think this article needs an update.