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IT Workers Worst Dressed Employees
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'."
The Herald seems to think that allowing workers to dress comfortably is a *bad* thing. How strange.
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In general, IT workers are not the ones interacting directly with clients in-person, but instead are mostly interacting with people within their own company. Because of this, first impressions really don't matter that much. And, I'm afraid, first impressions are the only reason to get dressed up for business (that, or lack of imagination and fixation on inconsequential things, which is admittedly somewhat descriptive of middle and upper management).
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.
What the unwashed masses here miss out on is that if you start dressing nicer, people will treat you better, and you will get promoted and or paid more... Sure, you can be judged objectively
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.
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.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
/*RANT
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*/
I don't ask you to be me. I only ask you not expect me to be you.
I'm personally wondering how many people read TFA, and noted the choice quote:
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.
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
I seriously pity anyone who considers IT to be a `career path'. It is not and I certainly don't regard that way. I am a Software Engineer currently in college, and although for the time being I am employed as a cog within an IT infrastructure, in no way or shape do I ever lose focus.
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.
The only thing in your post that you established as a point is that you have zero confidence in yourself. Almost all of my friends started out in tech support and while they may not have the most fashion sense, they atleast sport a style and don't mourn their own lives like you do.
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.
Blessed be he who reads this post, Cursed be he who tells my boss.