Body Modifications Still Hinder IT Professionals?

thedeletekey writes "The Detroit News recently ran an article about body modifications in the workplace. This got me thinking; do body modifications such as tattoos and piercings still hinder IT professionals in the workplace? Or is this a thing of the past, as these types of personal changes have become more common in recent years. In my experience, I've found both stringent dress codes requiring business casual attire, and no visible body modifications, to no dress code at all. What has the rest of the IT world found to be common?"

Comments

Re:Ummm...this is 2005.

[Loonacy]

If you were getting drunk in college, then you're not a true geek. Go find some other profession, we don't want you!

Re:Who it's a repressed minority

[Shajenko42]

Really, who isn't part of repressed minority now-a-days?

The people who are in the repressed (opressed, actually) majority? You know, that group of people making less than $200,000 per year?

Re:No biggie

[danger_boy_13]

I love these guys who think they're rebelling when all they end up doing is what millions of other assholes do.

Man, I love pretentious pricks who think they know everything there is to culture and psychology. Hate to break it to you, but not everyone is doing it to rebel. Some of us do it because we enjoy the way it looks. I think you need to crawl back under your little fucking rock and quit trying to act like you are king shit.

Re:The real "dress for success."

[Angst Badger]

Most of the employees at the best pizza place in this county (actually rated best by the newspapers, not just IMO) have tattoos, piercings, and non-standard haircuts, and they do their jobs well.

Congratulations on winning today's award for best unconscious self-parody.

Yes, there are lots of great food service workers with tats and piercings. The same is true of record store employees, retail cashiers, and janitorial night staff. And yes, those are often quite congenial work environments. Some of the most enjoyable places I ever worked were retail stores because my coworkers were a lot of fun.

You are going to be hard-pressed to stay very far above the poverty line with jobs like that, however. Personally, I'd have been happy to stay there -- my hobbies are pretty inexpensive -- but I ended up with a family, and was forced to turn my free-time programming habit into a full time job.

I make pretty good money now. Is it worth it to me? Yes, at least until my daughter is safely off to college. Then I'll probably go back to a much lower budget form of existence.

The point is, the people who write the checks get to make the rules. The reason so many posters have pointed out that this is a maturity issue is that it takes maturity to recognize that and to see that, right or wrong, your personal choices have consequences. Those may be utter bullshit consequences cooked up by some uptight asshole who thinks not wearing a tie is a cardinal sin, but if you want his money, you have to keep him happy. Going somewhere else is not always an option -- there are an awful lot of people out there who can swallow their pride and wear the tie, after all.