Who are you, and what do you do? What do you like to do outside of work?

Hi! My name is Oren, and I originally hail from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. After completing my undergraduate studies at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California, I moved to Los Angeles, where I currently work as a budget director for the LA Metro. My primary role at Metro is to help manage and administer a 9 billion-dollar annual budget, including the country’s most extensive transit capital program. I work as part of a specialized team focusing on technology implementation within the Finance department. I am very fortunate to have found a job that combines my interests in technology, urban planning, and finance.

Apart from work, I have many hobbies and passions that I enjoy pursuing. Music is an essential part of my life, both as a fan and as a musician. I played bass guitar in a band called Louder Space between 2011 and 2016, performing concerts all across California and opening for bands like Stick Figure and Iration. I enjoy video games (recently Cities Skylines 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3), love outdoor activities, and am an enthusiastic traveler!

What hardware do you use?

I have a custom PC build from Jan 2021. It has AMD Ryzen 9 3900x, 64GB DDR4, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, 3 x 2TB Samsung NVMe, and MSI MEG X570 Unify. My peripherals include the ZSA Moonlander Mark I in Black with Cherry MX Silent Red keyswitches, Logitech MX Ergo trackball mouse, Bose QC35 headphones, Bose SoundLink Mini speaker, and a Yeti microphone.

Additionally, I use a manual standing desk, balance board, and newly added under-desk walking treadmill.

And what software?

For work, I use Power BI, Tableau, Excel, and Office 365.

For play, I use Steam, Adobe Creative Suite, TradingView, and Traktor. I’ve also recently been diving deep into the world of AI, which has been fascinating to explore.

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

I went with blank keys for ultimate flexibility in customization. Although my primary layout remains pretty standard, it includes enhancements like an easily accessible SysRq key for screenshots and Win+H key for voice mode. Additionally, I have two extra layers dedicated to Numpad and audio/music controls.

What would be your dream setup?

I feel like I’m on the right path, but I want to improve my under-desk cable management and eventually upgrade to an electric standing desk. Adding a VR headset to the mix would be fun, too. Overall, I am thrilled with my setup’s ergonomics since purchasing the Moonlander!