Business or Pleasure? A Case for Personal Computers
Shifting jobs again has made me reconsider exactly what I put on my work computer, and whether I truly need a personal computer. Spoiler: yes, I do.
Confession: I have used employer-issued devices for personal purposes a lot through my professional career. At one job, I would use my work computer to edit GoPro videos between assignments because it was more powerful than my personal computer at the time. Several times, I’ve used my work computer to make Amazon purchases, or order pizza to pick up on the way home. I figured it wasn’t a big deal. I was still getting my work done, this just made it easier to do some non-work things when I had a free moment.
When I worked at RedSail, especially during the last few months, I was doing most of my work from my personal laptop and accessing my work computer via remote desktop for anything that had to be done on the network. After I was terminated there, I still had my personal device, so there wasn’t really any significant shift in my computing capabilities.
During my time at System Logistics, my personal laptop started running into some problems, and eventually just stopped working entirely. I expected this would happen eventually. It wasn’t an expensive or powerful device to begin with, and I had it for probably four years. Cheap devices die pretty quickly, that’s just how things go.
In response, I started doing more from my work laptop. One coworker criticized me for trusting the company too much with my personal login information. I figured I wasn’t doing anything illegal or suspicious, so they had no reason to bother with my personal stuff. Besides, I could just scrub it once I no longer needed the device.
After I left System Logistics, I realized that I no longer had any sort of computer to call my own. Sure, I had my phone, but doing anything intensive on a phone is annoying. You really do need a laptop or desktop on hand to handle the important stuff. I made a profile on my wife’s Surface Pro 7, and I used that for anything I couldn’t (or didn’t want to) do on my phone. That worked well enough, but there were certainly some instances where we both needed it at the same time. Not frequently, mind you, but it did happen.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I was going to take her Surface with me for some personal business away from home. I left the house to drop the kids off at school, and she discovered that she needed a document printed, and the file was on her computer. I had to rush home so that she could print it before she went to class, but the problem would never have happened if I had a personal device to bring with me and leave her device with her.
After some careful deliberation, I decided to get a Surface Pro 7 of my own. Costco frequently has discounts on bundles with the Surface device, Type Cover, and Surface Pen stylus. I didn’t exactly want to drop $900 on it, but experience had shown that we truly needed our own personal devices. Besides, I figured that a more premium device should hopefully last longer than my mid-range laptop from before.
Given the risks of having personal information and accounts on work equipment, it’s probably for the best that I went ahead and got a device of my own. If I were to get unexpectedly terminated again, I wouldn’t lose anything by simply handing in my work laptop. If I don’t put personal things on my employer’s property, I’m not risking any sort of violation of policies in that regard. It’s just a better idea to keep personal things personal, and leave work equipment to just work purposes.
Confession: I have used employer-issued devices for personal purposes a lot through my professional career. At one job, I would use my work computer to edit GoPro videos between assignments because it was more powerful than my personal computer at the time. Several times, I’ve used my work computer to make Amazon purchases, or order pizza to pick up on the way home. I figured it wasn’t a big deal. I was still getting my work done, this just made it easier to do some non-work things when I had a free moment.
When I worked at RedSail, especially during the last few months, I was doing most of my work from my personal laptop and accessing my work computer via remote desktop for anything that had to be done on the network. After I was terminated there, I still had my personal device, so there wasn’t really any significant shift in my computing capabilities.
During my time at System Logistics, my personal laptop started running into some problems, and eventually just stopped working entirely. I expected this would happen eventually. It wasn’t an expensive or powerful device to begin with, and I had it for probably four years. Cheap devices die pretty quickly, that’s just how things go.
In response, I started doing more from my work laptop. One coworker criticized me for trusting the company too much with my personal login information. I figured I wasn’t doing anything illegal or suspicious, so they had no reason to bother with my personal stuff. Besides, I could just scrub it once I no longer needed the device.
After I left System Logistics, I realized that I no longer had any sort of computer to call my own. Sure, I had my phone, but doing anything intensive on a phone is annoying. You really do need a laptop or desktop on hand to handle the important stuff. I made a profile on my wife’s Surface Pro 7, and I used that for anything I couldn’t (or didn’t want to) do on my phone. That worked well enough, but there were certainly some instances where we both needed it at the same time. Not frequently, mind you, but it did happen.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I was going to take her Surface with me for some personal business away from home. I left the house to drop the kids off at school, and she discovered that she needed a document printed, and the file was on her computer. I had to rush home so that she could print it before she went to class, but the problem would never have happened if I had a personal device to bring with me and leave her device with her.
After some careful deliberation, I decided to get a Surface Pro 7 of my own. Costco frequently has discounts on bundles with the Surface device, Type Cover, and Surface Pen stylus. I didn’t exactly want to drop $900 on it, but experience had shown that we truly needed our own personal devices. Besides, I figured that a more premium device should hopefully last longer than my mid-range laptop from before.
Given the risks of having personal information and accounts on work equipment, it’s probably for the best that I went ahead and got a device of my own. If I were to get unexpectedly terminated again, I wouldn’t lose anything by simply handing in my work laptop. If I don’t put personal things on my employer’s property, I’m not risking any sort of violation of policies in that regard. It’s just a better idea to keep personal things personal, and leave work equipment to just work purposes.
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