- Setup Stations
- Posts
- ep1 - Deni Khalikov
ep1 - Deni Khalikov
Software Engineer, Content Creator, Entrepreneur - "Show your work, post it online."

Hello friends, welcome to Setup Stations, episode 1. I’m super excited to start this series!
In this episode I’ll show you my current setup, what I’m working on (this project) and products & gear I use. This is my first go at this newsletter, so any feedback / suggestions are most welcome!
Let’s dive in!
About the creator
I (Deni) am a content creator and a software engineer (soonTM) who also runs businesses (just two for now) outside of tech. I love creating (art, content, etc) and to travel. I enjoy reading, especially fictional philosophy, but general sci-pop, classics and thrillers are also on my reading list. You can mostly find me roaming around Barcelona and Spain, exploring coastal cities and eating good food. I travel quite a lot for work so usually my setup is my Macbook and my pen and paper notebook.
The Setup
This is my current setup, in Belgium. I have another one in Barcelona that I will show as well.
General view of my desk setup
At this moment I’m running setup on a SmartDesk Core by Autonomous. I try to balance my working hours between sitting and standing, so I use two presets which I’ve set to number 1 and 2 on the control pad.
Doing this every half an hour or so with some stretching and walking really does help offset any negatives from sitting too long or standing too long.
I chose for a white desk since I’ve always had black or dark desks (those from Ikea) and wanted something fresh that would also look good on pictures or when I create content. So far I’m really happy with it.
Autonomous desk height controller
Monitor
My current monitor is a LG ultrawide 29 that I bought back in London while studying games programming. I love it because I edit videos a lot and usually run 2 windows side by side because of the width. The only thing I don’t like doing on it is gaming, but that’s we have gaming monitors like the Samsung I have in Barcelona.

how it looks with some lights on
I make sure to run some lights behind the monitor as it’s easier and healthier on the eyes in the long run. The monitor is positioned so that my neck looks up a little, preventing strain, with a windows to my left for natural light.
I try to switch between sitting and standing every hour or so, and that’s where the adjustments and presets really come in handy.

A standing desk needs…a standing human
monitor light from Amazon
My setup in Barcelona is more gaming oriented, but shares a lot of the same gear because I like it a lot. The only major difference here is the laptop (Macbook Pro 14 vs 13 inch), the extra vertical monitor, and the LG speakers.

Setup in Barcelona sneak peek:
Sound
My speakers of choice are the Sonos One (Gen 2). They’re a superb set of speakers with great clarity, deep thundering bass and features to sync up with your favourite music streaming services (or your local playlist). It works through AirPlay on my iPhone and I also use the alarm function to auto play music (usually between 5 and 7am).
I love them. I mostly listen to EDM, but love to play OSTs, pop, rap, rock, etc. Basically everything but country. Currently i’m blasting Solo Leveling vs Cerberus ost.
Sonos One
As for headphones, NOTHING beats the Sennheiser Momentum 4 in this price range. Battery life? 60 hours. Sound? 10/10. Connectivity? 2 devices at once. Fit? Light and lovely. I love this so so much, and I have the Sony XM4 and the XM5.
I also have the cabled earpods when I’m working on laptop and it’s too warm or I just want to give my ears and head a rest from wearing headphones all the time. For other cases, I have a backup airpods gen 2 because the gen 3 fit is weird and I have a pair of Airpods Pro 2 for the city trips and commutes.
my favourite headphones for sound quality & battery life: Sennheiser Momentum 4
I used to stream on Twitch once in a while, to an average of 15-30 people, and would love to get back to it. For that I use my Elgato Wave 3 which works perfect for streaming and looks clean. For filming videos etc I prefer the sound of the Rode VideoMic Go 2. The extension arm is from IKEA.
Elgato Wave 3 | Wave 3 |
Sometimes I use my Rode mic, but usually it’s attached to my camera for when I’m out and vlogging / recording for personal reasons so to speak.

Sony ZV1, Wide Angle + Black Mist Lens, Grip, Rode Mic.
Storage
A collection of my smartphones, always wanted to talk about tech, maybe someday soon, a tech channel!
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone XS
iPhone SE 2020
Google Pixel one (unlimited photo storage hack hehe)
iPhone 4 black and white.
all my smartphones
As for other electronics that I don’t use too much, I keep on this black IKEA pegboard. The headphones I hang there because it looks clean but I do use them a lot during focus sessions. The mouse is an Razer Basilisk gaming mouse which is super light and works well, when I used to play OW2.
Sad times. Never got to GM.
Apple watch series 5 ceramic white edition, rare and very beautiful

Love my jet black series 10 apple watch as well
As for extras that I don’t directly use, I make sure to hang them on this black IKEA pegboard.
ikea pegboard with products | ikea pegboard with products |
bluetooth speakers, from Ale Hop, the giveaway for next week, info later on YT
What is that weird keyboard bro?
Let’s talk about the keyboard because every time I post it on X, I get the same questions / response:
- Your keyboard looks so cool, what is it?
- That’s a weird a$$ keyboard wtf?
The reason I use this keyboard is because of ergonomics, which is a topic I would love to get into.
yeah I need to clean the keyboard. xBows Nature
my DevAtTheBeach palm and some books
I also use a phone stand and a 3-in-1 wireless charger for when I’m working, and I make sure to leave the battery limit at 80% for charging.
![]() |
Normally a Playstation fanboi, but recently got a XBox series X as a present and I love it. I’m currently not gaming a lot, but like to take a break of 15 mins of COD or Witcher 3.

xbox series x and some other tech products
I got a bunch of books that I like to keep around my setup that I’m reading or have read:
![]() | ![]() |
For when i’m travelling, I always take my pen and notebook with me, but also my kindle / e-book reader: the Boox Poke 3. I love this little thing, it can read pdfs and most other formats, has the Kindle app, and the battery lasts for a week.
![]() front of the boox poke 3 | ![]() Backside of the boox poke 3 |
Lastly, my trusted Lenovo Thinkpad VIP with Ubuntu on it when I was learning how to code. I got this badboi second hand for 100 euros, spent another 60 or so for a SSD and 8GB of RAM. Love it and still keep it as back up.

The Setup Products
Desk: Autonomous SmartDesk Core
Keyboard: xBows Nature
Mouse: MX Master 3 Mac
Headset: Sennheiser Momentum 4
AirPods Pro 2
Monitor: LG 29” Ultrawide monitor
Speaker: Sonos One
Laptop: Macbook Pro 13” M1
Mics
Elgato Wave 3
Sony UX570
Rode VideoMic Go 2
Ikea pegboard, a chair I ordered on amazon and some led lights from the local lights store.
Monitor light is also some Amazon brand.
Razer Basilisk X Hyperspeed
Xbox Series X
Some random wireless 3-in-1 charger for iPhone, Apple Watch and Airpods Pro
Google Nest Hub 2
A cheap full HD cam for keyboard typing view when streaming
The Apps
Final cut pro
Craft
Things 3
Bear
Steam (Stardew Valley)
Visual Studio Code
Discord
Spotify
Typefully
iA Writer
Advice on content creation

Use whatever gear you have, no need to spend money on expensive cameras etc.
Audio is more important, as most of us have good smartphones (get a Rode video mic 2, or a cheap lavalier mic!)
Post, post post. Don’t overthink cinematography, scripting etc. The more you post, the quicker you can improve.
Try to make goals based on things you control like posting once a week vs getting 100k subs in a year.
What I’m working on
Currently I’m working on this (Setup Stations). The point is to release a weekly ep on this newsletter and the Youtube channel, showing the desk setups and interviewing the creators / builders by sharing their stories. This also includes pictures on IG and short form roast / reviews on Tiktok and YT Shorts.
There is my non tech projects, the Youtube channel for DeniTech + the newsletter Dev At The Beach, and finally, an AI SWE Roadmap to get into FAANG this year.
Thank you for reading, DM me on Twitter / X if you want to get featured or your setup roasted / reviewed!
See you next week!
What we’re up to today:

enjoying some Stardew Valley
Reply