How did you get into Mechanical Keyboards?
In 2015, one my co-workers, who was a gamer and played on a Corsair, explained the concept of mechanical keyboards to me. I googled it, found R/Mk, started reading through the posts, and I havent looked back.
What is your favorite aspect about the hobby?
I love the design aspect of it, from the old vintage boards to the contemporary forms, shapes, and materials of modern group-buys. I love how the community is filled with engineers, artists, and hobbyists who are devoted to creating great typing experiences and designing pieces of art for your desk. It’s like watch collecting but much more interesting and, I think, more functional since a timepiece is primarily for fashion these days, but most of us spend hours using a keyboard every day,
What are you looking forward to in the near future in this hobby?
I’m looking forward to seeing how OEM board manufacturers react to trends in the community. Vortex and Coolermaster have been taking a lot of cues from the mech community lately.
What are you looking forward to in the far future of this hobby?
For me what’s really missing is easier, more seamless, and more consistent programmability for those of us who dont really have much experience with coding languages and arent interested in investing much time learning. I know that eventually there will be an excellent GUI for QMK, it’s only a matter of time.
What is the favorite thing you’ve seen happen in the community?
Customs offered by KBDfans at prices that arent outrageous, and thick pbt keycaps being offered at reasonable prices. You can have a really nice board and caps now without spending and arm or a leg and taking a risk on a groupbuy, and there’s a great variety of layouts available at all price points. I also think its great that novelkeys’ box royal swtiches proved that you can have a very tactile switch with an MX stem. Oh, and BKE domes are one of the best inventions to hit the community. As someone who likes tactile switches but prefers lighter switches, before BKE domes it was basically impossible to get a good tactile experience with a switch under 55g.
What’s your most memorable experience involving mechanical keyboards?
Winning a NovelKeys Big Switch in a typing contest at the last meet-up I went to. There are some really lovely people in this community
