IT Workers Worst Dressed Employees 959
Poorly Dressed Anonymous Coward wrote to mention are article run in the Syndney Morning Herald saying that IT workers have been dubbed the worst dressed corporate employees. From the article: "Help-desk staff were named as the worst offenders, followed by those working in technology start-ups, many of whom had continued to wear T-shirts to work as a consequence of the casual web culture of the '90s. 'The internet is now such a massive industry but people haven't caught up in terms of their dress'."
What ya need is... (Score:5, Funny)
Who would be best poised to offer this? Which computer manufacturer has the best design/style sensibilities? Apple of course. Steve Jobs should put out a line of fashionable nerdwear with photos of electronic components on the interior labels.
Each line (named after cool-sounding components like "Capacitor", "Resistor", "North Bridge") has its own signature style and contains a 3 or 4 of each type of item (pants, shoes, shirts, sweaters, coats, blazers). Any combo within the line will look good. Buy two complete lines and you have a week's worth of outfits. Capacitor shirt, capacitor pants, capacitor shoes... you're color coordinated, looking good, and it took you no time at all.
Furthermore, they should have no complex care instructions (wash in warm, tumble dry regular), be seriously stain resistant, and be wrinkle resistant so they don't show the wrinkling effects of all-nighters. And most importantly, make them comfortable.
- Greg
Marketing departments voted "Most Metrosexual" (Score:5, Funny)
You want well dressed- pay well dressed wages (Score:5, Interesting)
Plus,...well,...their brains work differently.
It could be worse. Lip Shit Ralph Lauren forced the people working in his stores to buy the company clothes from his company at full retail cost. And then he paid them minimum wage plus a few points commission on what they sold. How's that for suck?
Plus how about filling some of the cubicles with beautiful young women? Tech support guys know that they are zeros and will most likely always be zeros. They realize that they will constantly have to be studying new technologies in order to remain employed at chump wages. They know that they will never have the social status that their counterparts in Bangalore and Chennai have with the general public. They know that they will be working for the rest of their lives in dead soulless drab cubicles. They know that the only difference between their lives and the lives of those who are serving (in USA the same verb is used for being in the military and being in prison) 20 years for killing record company lawyers is that they are less likely to be raped after 'work'. So they figure, why not where whatever I feel like wearing.
What difference does it make to anyone?
Re:You want well dressed- pay well dressed wages (Score:3)
I would tend to think the difference is in the ego.
Your average marketing dweeb tries to sell their assets with a pretty package. (Not that package you sickos.) Your average geek relies on their mad computer skills, which last I chacked was a lot less tangible.
Re:You want well dressed- pay well dressed wages (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You want well dressed- pay well dressed wages (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe you should take the time to re-evaluate your position in life and your satisfaction with it.
If you're not happy, you're not likely to be confident in yourself. And it's that right there that is more apparent to other people, especially women, than your dress style.
Re:You want well dressed- pay well dressed wages (Score:5, Insightful)
College boy, grow the fuck up. IT is indeed a career path, and while in the corporate world I worked with hundreds of career IT folk. (That's out of 3,000 working in IT across a company I spent four years with) There's very little a large corporation in this world can do now without IT, and IT management are increasingly involved in business decisions. Get on your journal database and read some Venkatraman and stop making idiotic statements about IT on Slashdot.
And stuff your fancy clothes while you're at it.
Re:You want well dressed- pay well dressed wages (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:You want well dressed- pay well dressed wages (Score:3)
Agreed...
I wear the the former at work, because I certainly need to maintain a certain kind of class
There, we part ways. I wear the latter to work because I need to - Well, WORK.
Actually doing my job requires me to (depending on the task) sit in front of a computer all day coding; Run cable through hot and dusty ceilings; Replace toner cartridges (which almost
Re:You want well dressed- pay well dressed wages (Score:3, Interesting)
I absolutely hate ties - I feel like I'm being choked. I could wear a tie loose enought so that it doesn't feel like that, but then I look far more scruffy than just wearing an open collared shirt. I have left at least one job partly on the grounds that I had to wear a tie, and the fact that we can wear (reasonably) casual clothes (polo shirts/smart black jeans etc - and there are people in all departments, not just IT, dre
Re:What ya need is... (Score:5, Funny)
If I could get office-appropriate wrinkle resistant shirts A-F, and pants 1-3, and consult a simple n-dimensional style-matching matrix on the website, I might finally get to talk to a girl.
and, the website should have an easy to query API for style-match checking.
Re:What ya need is... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What ya need is... (Score:3, Informative)
1) Look like you have a lot more money than brains,
On the east coast (McLean), I noticed that women really eyed me closely when I went around in a suit. Wear a sports jacket and the women just look at you like meat.
I kinda like it...
Re:What ya need is... (Score:5, Funny)
On Monday I try out the mechanic thing... a few looks come my way.
Tuesday, I put on my "Manager at McDonalds 4 Life" outfit for a thrill.
Wednesday, I put on my finest scrubs and carry a stethoscope.... quite the head turner.
Thursdays, I wear a suite and carry my briefcase full of "legal" papers. (they have the word legal written on them)
Friday, only the best with the airline pilot wardrobe.
I would wear my tech clothes, but they look like everybody elses.
Re:What ya need is... (Score:4, Funny)
Whoa, whoa, whoa there. (*writing*) wash..in..warm... what was the next part?
Re:What ya need is... (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Stylish non jean pants
2. Stylish comfortable shoes, with matching belt and socks
3. Polo shirt
Looks good, is comfortable to wear and management doesn't have a problem with it. Honestly i'm sick of suits and ties and just let my quality of work do the talking.
And from what other workers tell me, they seem to appreciate my relaxed attitude when it comes to crunch time, because I don't look like i'm getting stressed out.
Re:What ya need is... (Score:3, Funny)
What kind of tyrant ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What kind of tyrant ... (Score:5, Funny)
Not if you're soldering, welding, or operating high-rotational-speed power tools.
Believe me on this one.
Re:What kind of tyrant ... (Score:3, Funny)
How strange. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Interesting)
I've lived in/near Seattle for the last 6 years, working in the tech industry, and I've regularly seen people come to work in sweats or wearing shorts in the dead of winter (and it gets cold up here - we're only a 3 hour drive from Canada). The most disconcer
Re:How strange. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How strange. (Score:4, Insightful)
The social world has inertia, though watching fashion shows, you'd be hard-pressed to prove it. People take forever to change their opinions on such things, but conforming to the existing de-facto standard only reinforces it, making change take even longer. Every IT worker I know understands that people feel this way about dress -- and that it's stupid. Yet they'll continue to please customers, customers won't be exposed to different dress, and will never come to associate good service with awkward dress, just as they won't associate good service with tattoos (because they're hidden), abnormal hair (again, hidden or prohibited), etc. People will only associate good service with the 'business look', and will jump to conclusions about otherwise-groomed/dressed/modified service providers.
No business is going to take a chance on this for the sake of re-educating the public. And the social norm doesn't change as quickly as generations die off -- your parents may die, but the habits and stereotypes they gave you will be with you, and your children, and even your grandchildren, long after. Every generation overlaps with several others, and we all try to cater to each other. (Which is why I fail to understand political leaders who think there's actually a risk of society suddenly changing itself to be radically more or less permissive. What's actually happening is merely a question of threshholds as people get fed up with pretending.)
Re:How strange. (Score:4, Insightful)
You obviously don't work in the SF Bay Area - most of the customers I know are frankly worried about the talent of the engineering staff if they are dressed too well... in fact, in general I have seen a startling REVERSE correlation between attire and overall technical competence
Re:How strange. (Score:5, Insightful)
This misses a very important point. Impressions. I'm up there with you man. I miss having purple hair, but as first boss out of college explained: "I don't care what you look like, your coworkers don't care what you look like, but some of my collabarators will care when they come to visit. I need them more than I need you."
Even if the people you work with and around every day know you're good at your job, in the end that isn't enough. Clients, collabarators, customers, and anyone else from a different work envrioment will take your lack of due care for you appearance and apply it to the entire workplace. That's a real impact. You can wear comfortable cloths that don't look like they came out of a basement for the time your at work, and go back to your t-shirts and hole filled jeans when you get home. They pay you, not the other way around.
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Insightful)
True, but not true. They make money on you, so the dependency goes both ways, though not in equal shares.
I expect people I work for, and with, to be professional. If someone judges me professionally by what I wear, he simply isn't professional enough for me to want to work for him ( or her ).
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Interesting)
In my last job, I made the conscious decision to force myself to wear shoes. I used to wear a nice long-sleeved oxford, twill pants with pleats, and sandals to work. (from early march through novemb
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Interesting)
Even though I wore suits to interviews, changing my day-to-day dress code really made a difference. Suddenly people who never looked at me twice before noticed it, and before I knew it I had moved jobs to a large enterprise based on contacts I had recently made. Since being here, I've been given the opportunity to work on projects and do things that I never
Re:How strange. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You sound like you have a bad attitude yourself (Score:5, Insightful)
And where does attitude about clothing have a damn thing to do about attitude about work? When did we decide judging a book by its cover was the right way to pick? In what irrefutable experient with repeatable results has it been prooven that those who wear "Stylish" clothes vrs "unstylish" to work have better attitudes?
What does it say about someones attitude if they are willing to buy something they don't like, that costs more than what they do and then wear it the majority of the time because its what people expect? Everyone else is doing it why don't you? Cause I am not a fucking sheeple god damn it. That isn't an attitude problem, its called free will.
Why in the world do we seek and praise conformity ? And I don't care if it was in the form of REQUIRING eveyrone to wear jeans and a T-shirt... its a silly thing to persue in something as irrelevant as manner of dress. Dress codes are about power. The ability to decree what is and is not acceptable and its a large load of very smelly bull shit.
What is wrong with a jeans and a T-shirt vrs not jeans and a polo shirt? What precisely is the difference there? Is Denim some horrid material not fit for public? Is the lack of a collar, two buttons and an overall thinner cotton weave a dire issue of productivity? To even have this argument is stupid. To consider it of any importance an admission of valuing shallow appearance over the substance of what the person does and how they behave. That is an improper way to judge someone and no amount of justification will change that at its heart judgement of appearence alone is shallow and idiotic. If someone has a bad attitude don't ascociate it with what they wear.
I see a jackass in a suit and they are still a jackass. I see a king in rags and they are still a king. We all bitch about judging based on sterotypes and appearances rather than on the substance of a person. And then turn around and teach our kids you have to dress a particular way for anyone to take you seriously. Does anyone else see the utter damnfool hypocrisy in that? The truly heartbreaking thing about it all is if we just quit doing it we would no longer have to put up with it. Easier said than done obviously but damn its still annoying.
RANT*/
Re:You sound like you have a bad attitude yourself (Score:3, Insightful)
Conformity is another matter. Someone who creates a different identity with their appearence or uses it thoughtfully is in a different category than someone who just doesn't give a damn. I'd rather work with someon
Re:You can have it (Score:4, Funny)
Re:How strange. (Score:3)
Obviously, by posting about it, you do care. In fact, I'd almost wager that if you do indeed dress as down as you seem to imply, that you do it intentionally, specifically to get this sort of reaction to you so you can go off on your little rant about how you don't give a fuck. It legitimizes your life-choices. Good luck with that.
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think he should care. It doesn't bother me that he doesn't care. It doesn't bother me that people don't care. It's not really a big deal. However, when someone feels the need to run around, bitching about how much they don't give a fuck about something and that people who do give a fuck
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess this is similar to this continuing thread: based on the single post of yours, you sounded
You're confused about style (Score:3, Insightful)
But the thing thing is, that's not more stylish than a pair of designer jeans, a t-shirt from Threadless and a some limited edition Nike AF1s; what you're describing is just the generic blue button-down and khaki clone that women find (and hate) in every after-work bar in existence.
Re:You're confused about style (Score:3, Funny)
No single women (Score:5, Funny)
Dressing fashionably maybe not so easy (Score:5, Interesting)
My relevent dimesions are 32, 36, and 36. Those are waist, inseam, and sleave length measured in inches. It is near impossible to find clothing that fits, even at big and tall shops. Actually, big and tall shops are much more consistant. They never carry anything that fits.
Long ago, I mostly gave up. I could find and buy short sleave shirts and jeans without major effort so that's what I wore. More recently, I am finding that I can't even find jeans without a multi day cross town search. After the last such search, I found two pairs at the largest of several GAP stores in my metro area. I bought them both. After I left the store, they once again had nothing in my size.
Some say the Internet is to blame. Brick and morter clothing shops think they can avoid the expense of carrying a full range of sizes but telling odd size people to buy online. Never mind that fit can not be verified through a web browser. Whatever the reason, it takes all the fun away. It is hard to get excited about fashion when even the basics are denied.
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Insightful)
It makes you look like a fratboy. More "businesslike"? Yeah. More "safe"? Yes. More stylish? No.
A typical businessman knows well how to fit in and look like all the other businessmen, and this helps him succeed in business -- but he knows bugger-all about s
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Interesting)
Geeks shouldn't be afraid to put thought into their clothes. Style is not completely mysterious, and though the rules can sometimes be subtle, they are learnable with a bit of effort. What's more, looking nice does wonders for your self-confid
Re:How strange. (Score:3, Funny)
*AHEM* I have a penis, thankyouverymuch.
Re:How strange. (Score:4, Funny)
Now *that's* accessorizing!
Re:How strange. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's unlikely the Herald is engaged in any active thought whatsoever.
Re:How strange. (Score:4, Insightful)
And, according to the profession I'm in, jeans and t-shirts are appropriate. It is called "culture", we have one, and, like all cultures it should be respected. (I am joking about this)
If you really want to be in a culture that not only encourages but rewards being (as many in western society would call it) well dressed that is fine, have fun at your glorified dog show that you call a career.
If I was required to dress differently for the sake of being professional by stereotypical standards, I'm coming in with a lab coat, reflecting the "scientist" part of my title.
further marginalization (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure, why not? After all, we're the first to get "downsized", first to have our budgets cut- this despite the fact that IT workers have the highest attrition rate of virtually any other job category. We're often the only people in an entire company "required" to carry a pager. Our managers won't stick up for us, we work in a job which we're visible only when something is wrong (so no matter how good a job we do, the question is "why did this break in the first place). We spend all day listening to people whine and have little "chats" with the boss when we don't bed over far enough. We're the #1 excuse of why business doesn't get done ("oh, I didn't get that out for fedex by 6 because my laptop stopped working right before I was going to save it! Those IT people can't do anything right!").
Tell you what? Give me that salary review I was promised when I signed up. Give me a competitive wage even half that of the slick-haired assholes in sales, or the ditzy bleached bimbos in marketing. Take me out to lunch when the mail server crashes and I get everything back up and running in record time, yet again.
I'll be more than happy to dress nicer in return.
Re:further marginalization (Score:3, Insightful)
The one question an IT geek can never answer. At 5pm email is working fine. At 8am the next day email is not working. No-one has been in the office from 5pm to 8am, so why did the email break? Oh, the disk was full, or there was an influx of spam or some other reason. So what does the IT geek do? He frees some space on the disk or he configures the spam filter to drop messages with a lower score. Two days later the email server is down again. What's the problem th
Re:further marginalization (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:How strange. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How strange. (Score:5, Funny)
If he tries that number with me I am going to tell him:
'Just because you have a male clothing fetish does not mean that the rest of us should have to dress to satisfy your sexual perversions'
Think that one will get me fired? 8)
Re:How strange. (Score:4, Funny)
A few million years ago, it would have been Golgafrincham Colonization Arc "B". Where there are nice clean telephone receivers. And well-styled hair. YAAAAY!
at least your expected to look bad (Score:2)
I'm a project manager at an architecture firm. On my best day i can muster some black jeans and a polo shirt with boots. All my coworkers have horn rimmed glasses with silk slacks and pastel colored shirts. Plus they wear trech coats in the middle of summer. maybe I should get a job in help desk that way I woudl fit right in.
Eewww. (Score:5, Funny)
If I wear jeans, how can anyone tell if I'm wearing a thong? :)
Re:Eewww. (Score:5, Funny)
Gotta get a promotion somehow.
Re:Eewww. (Score:4, Funny)
Your, uh, big toe sticks out.
That... is funny! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Eewww. (Score:3, Informative)
Hmmm. (Score:2, Interesting)
Goddamn right (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess the real question is why do IT workers get that freedom when others don't? There's certainly lots of other positions in the world where appearance matters as little. Is it because we've successfully trained the world to diminish their clothing expectations of geeks?
Re:Goddamn right (Score:5, Funny)
There's an upside and a downside.
If you don't dress well, you won't get promoted to management.
I forgot what the downside was.
Re:Goddamn right (Score:3, Interesting)
Awhhh... And just when I was agreeing with you.
It does not matter all that much what you look like or dress like, IMHO. I always dress in a single colour T-shirt, jeans and Caterpillars, and I have had ONE remark so far during all those years.
The remark came from a client, who said to me I'd (quote) "better dress in some kind of suit instead of whatever the hell I was wearing" if I was going to work in "his" building.
I told him without hesitati
reasons for "casual" wear (Score:3, Insightful)
Thats not to say I go to work in ripped clothes. I get clean and decent looking stuff, which is also sturdy.
And its kinda silly to give me shit about my clothes when I have my labret (lower lip) pierced. (Yes, I kept it in during the interview process.)
Don't dress too nicely (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Don't dress too nicely (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Don't dress too nicely (Score:3)
Now that I dress 'nice', I get thing my way a lot more often. This includes technical decisions.
I never dress nicer then my bosses boss.
People often fail to relize that work is a social activity. In social activities one must remain approachable by others, and there will be a pecking order.
Re:Don't dress too nicely (Score:3, Funny)
Heh. I am gay, and I don't get asked that. Instead, I had one guy -- a customer -- ask once, "You always dress so nice. Are you English?" (We're in Ohio.)
Translation (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, Paul Graham has an essay about this (sort of) here: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html [paulgraham.com]
"Suits make a corporate comeback," says the New York Times. Why does this sound familiar? Maybe because the suit was also back in February, September 2004, June 2004, March 2004, September 2003, November 2002, April 2002, and February 2002.
Why do the media keep running stories saying suits are back? Because PR firms tell them to. One of the most surprising things I discovered during my brief business career was the existence of the PR industry, lurking like a huge, quiet submarine beneath the news. Of the stories you read in traditional media that aren't about politics, crimes, or disasters, more than half probably come from PR firms.
Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
Ms Moss believes money should be no object when it comes to dressing well.
Ms. Moss was the event's host. She's a "Corporate Stylist" -- corporate clothing is her business.
News Flash! Salesdriod sees a demographic that generally doesn't wear (their) expensive clothes, tries to make those people feel ashamed that they're not spending their money on her wares. More at 11!
They don't make clothing that works out equally well when running cable through walls, poking around above suspension ceilings, crawling under subfloors, and inside the corporate boardroom. What's next? Construction workers the most poorly dressed in the world!
II see plenty of construction workers in offices; but nobody expects them to dress in a way that is anything but utilitarian. Guess what? Plenty of IT workers aren't doing work that is any less hard on clothing.
Bait (Score:5, Insightful)
Honesty and Dress Sense: Inversely porportional (Score:2, Insightful)
This seems to hold true in insurance, real estate, used car salesmen, etc. If somebody is wearing a suit, it's because they're trying to distract you from some other deeper, more important character flaw.
Re:Honesty and Dress Sense: Inversely porportional (Score:5, Insightful)
That's strange. As a reasonably smartly-dressed, skilled and experienced techie, my conclusion has been that there is pretty much no correlation whatsoever between how smartly someone dresses and how good they are at their job. Frankly, your implication that I'm an unprofessional rip-off merchant because I'm happier wearing reasonably smart clothes to work is kinda offensive.
Re:Honesty and Dress Sense: Inversely porportional (Score:3, Funny)
Agreed (Score:2)
I was an exception, however, as my co-workers were kind of weirded out that I didn't wear shorts or T-shirts to work.
Who cares? (Score:4, Insightful)
I hate these beaurocratic types that have nothing to do but invent stupid rules, such as expecting everyone to dress to their standard even though there's no practical benefit.
Its what I DO when I'm at work that should matter, NOT what I wear.
Re:Who cares? (Score:3, Insightful)
Part of what you do at work is to interact with others. IT is increasingly becoming a more social career, requiring cross functional interaction. I wrote the following [duanegran.com] some time back, which may clarify things a bit:
Many of the very people who argue that they shouldn't be judged on appearances at work are often among the most fastidious when it comes to dressing for a night on the town. So, appearances shouldn't matter, except when they sho
Maybe (Score:2)
so who gives a shit?
Either Australians use that phrase differently than we do, or Ms Moss was misunderstood, or she can curl up and die. Money's no object when it comes to feeding your kids. That is, oddly enough, a higher priority for our help desk staff. Sorry if that means the folks at Gap have to fleece a few more idio
Wow, the fashion industry wants us to buy clothes! (Score:4, Funny)
Who woulda thunk it!
Not too surprising (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, dressing nicely does help some people focus, and I think it can be beneficial for many to have "work" clothes and "non-work" clothes in order to better differentiate between work and home, but (in another sweeping generalization) I'd say tech nerds (obviously the whole of the IT industry) feel less of a need to discriminate between home and work than some other groups.
Re:Not too surprising (Score:3, Insightful)
The answer to that of course is 'because he was paged at 2:30 by the panicked help desk who needed him to come in to fix the core router
Re:Not too surprising (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously though, I work for a startup company, and as such my job ranges from supporting our software products to development, scripting, and system administration. When I started at the company I wore khakis to work every day, jeans on Friday. Then I started wearing jeans for my commute to work (say what you will, I just don't find khakis as comfortable, especially when driving). Eventually I realized nobody really gave a crap if I wore jeans while I sat at my computer, and I stopped wearing khakis all the time,
Sure, when I have to go to a customer site or on a business trip, I break out the button-down shirts and dress pants. Then it actually matters, because customers impressions of our company will be based on me, our company's representative.
When I'm sitting at a computer writing code, answering emails, and making phone calls, it makes no difference what I'm wearing. I'm sure there are people out there that work more focused when they're dressed up, or whatever. Well, I'm not one of them. I work best when I'm comfortable, so I can relax and think. All I can say is if I ever have employees, there will be no "business" attire in my place of business.
Corporate Stylist??!? (Score:5, Funny)
OMG if your job title is corporate stylist you must immediatly proceed to kill whomever gave you that title and then yourself.
What an..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Most IT workers aren't dealing with customers face to face most of the time. They are sitting in front of computers, and oddly enough, barring big advances in AI and machine vision computers don't care how you dress.
Quick tip #1. If you are sitting in front of a computer all comfort trumps fashion sense evertime.
Quick tip #2. Wearing a stiff buttoned collar with a tie is a pretty bad idea for comfort or probably even good health. I suspect managers do some of the dumb things they do due to the constriction of blood to their brain.
Quick tip #3. Formal dress is expensive and time consuming. Anything that requires dry cleaning is expensive, and ironing or pressing clothes likewise is time consuming or expensive. Most IT workers want to do more productive things with their time and money than going to the dry cleaners or shopping st Nordstrom's.
Quick tip #4. If you are a geek and meeting geeks from other companies chances are they will be in shirts and tee's too and they are going to conclude you are a noob or a phony if you wear a shirt and tie to the meeting. Only time you are gonna do it is if you are meeting executives from a customer because they wrongly place value, and make judgments, on how good or bad the tie you are wearing is. On the plus side ties are a top subject for casual chit chat among air headed executives.
People who deal in person with customers on a regular basis do have a motivation to dress well. Customers will judge you on it and get first impressions, rightly or wrongle.
People who don't deal with customers shouldn't be wearing expensive uncomfortable clothes on a daily basis.
A twist on this argument is people who do dress well are probably some of the least trustworthy:
Politicians
Lawyers
Salesmen
Executives
Stock brokers
You see these are all people who are spending big money to create a facade partially based on their wardrobe. They seek to impress you with their clothes to distract you from their substance.
If I ever hit lotto... (Score:4, Funny)
Just like physicists in the early 1900's. Seriously, ever seen how neatly employees at Bell Labs, Bayer, IBM and other famous places dressed back then?
(This coming from a person who's summer wardrobe consists of 18 black Haynes t-shirts from WalMart.)
Tribal fusion (Score:5, Funny)
He noticed my glance and I could see him size me up. He too saw a large florid-faced and bearded man wearing a knit henley and shorts. Our eyes met and I knew that he knew were were of the same tribe, shamans to the silicon spirits. We smiled an went about our business.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers
For he to-day that sheds his tie with me
Shall be my brother; be he e'er so vile
Re:Tribal fusion (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tribal fusion (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tribal fusion (Score:3, Funny)
IT, AU, T-shirts... (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, I don't know what's worse. Getting blood on a $70 business shirt or getting blood on one of my most excellent and beloved OpenBSD t's.
Hmm, I wonder how many OpenBSD t's I could buy if I claim workers comp?
Looking Through Magazines (Score:3, Insightful)
Response to dress code (Score:5, Funny)
I had the CEO of a company I was working at start to gripe about my ignoring the dress code. I pointed at the pile of dirt and dust and dead insects that'd fallen out of the ceiling tile I'd pulled aside to work up in there and asked him if he was willing to get into that wearing his suit? He said no way, it was too expensive to ruin. I asked him if he was going to pay if I ruined my good clothes in there? He said no. "Then why should I? Now, can I get back to finding and fixing this wiring problem, or do you want the demo you're doing this afternoon, the one you said was critical to the company's success this year, to flop when none of the stuff you want to show off actually works?".
they just don't get it (Score:4, Insightful)
on your work, but most of your work is presentation and communication. Those should be as neat and professional as possible. Do you go to
the doctor expecting him to walk in wearing flip flops, with greasy hair etc... no... why?
It is the expectation of professionalism. Dress for success is a common factor that really holds its value. But you should only dress just a little bit less than as good as your boss, or your bosses boss (if you want your bosses job and you think your boss is an idiot).
Seriously. You will be surprised how quickly you get promoted or well treated and taken more seriously.
If you dress like a student, you get treated like a student. If you are 40 and still dressing like a student, people think you are weird. If you dress better, you get women or men whichever is your fancy.
Many grad students also go through this phenomena. The start off wearing the same old same, and then as they get closer to graduation they start dressing nicer and nicer until one day the boss no longer thinks of them as a student in training, but as a credible scientist.
God help you if your boss dress like a slob. I would take another job seriously.
Comments on dress vs non dress (Score:4, Interesting)
Dress doesn't matter in IT.
Several jobs ago, I was a sales-man. Selling toy soldiers. I wore suits, but when you were selling $10-$20k of product to a small independant retailer, you needed to make an impression.
I then worked for a cable giant, and was told to wear kakhi's and a polo to work. I did, there were a *LOT* of cute girls in that office, seemed easy to comply - especially with lunch dates in mind.
I left that job to go work for another fortune 500, where Jeans were expresly forbidden. I wore jeans every day. Once a director asked me [infront of a vp, and a department head] why i was allowed to wear jeans. This man, ironcally - the head of it/ecommerce, and 2 years later, my boss - was told by the VP of marketing : "Oh, thats cause he is one of those programmers, who wants to do all that math in a tie ?"
The two or three times I pulled an armani out of the closet (remember, i was in sales!) and wore them to work, I made people VERY
That being said, in a fortune 500 environment, I noticed that on the days I wore a $1500 suit, people stepped out of my way
Now I am the V.P. of IT at a smaller company, and all upper management actually tells me all the time to 'dress edgy' when I ask if I should wear a suit.
In the small co. / startup / under 50 million a year industry. Venture Caps *LIKE* to see the crazy IT guys, it provides them with an oddly inverted feeling of comfort - NO ONE who dresses like that could be hired by such a small company if they were not REALLY good at their job
Like it or not, we actually *HAVE* fostered the belief that good programmers really *don't* wear suits. And the tighter we hold on to that conviction, the more truth it gains
Nice clothes + heels + data center = disaster (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, have you ever had to crawl under a desk for cabling... in a skirt?? Yeah, it sucks, though I'm sure that employee had a nice view that day.
IT workers rarely deal with customers, though I try to look decent when I know I'll be meeting with vendors.
It's just not entirely reasonable to ask anyone in IT to dress up. We think on our feet, deal with hardware on the fly, and deal with various environments.
And Proud of It (Score:3, Funny)
Follow Steve Jobs' example...only wear black (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why should IT workers dress any differently? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Caught Up? (Score:5, Funny)
I disagree.
Dress-code must be robust, readable and maintainable. Period.