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Inside the Google-Plex
tappytibbins writes "Baseline magazine has an in-depth story about how Google manages its own IT infrastructure. From the article: 'In general, Google has a split personality when it comes to questions about its back-end systems. To the media, its answer is, "Sorry, we don't talk about our infrastructure." Yet, Google engineers crack the door open wider when addressing computer science audiences, such as rooms full of graduate students whom it is interested in recruiting.'"
Most journalists and business analysts are notable for doing a half-assed job and taking credit for cut & paste jobs. Journalists who actually spend time researching their stories are a dying breed, so my take on this is that Google would rather not waste their time answering stupid questions from people who don't even understand what they're publishing. Their time is much better spent recruiting smart people or just talking to grad students in some sort of academic goodwill.
If it is anything like their web-presence, half the stuff must have 'Beta' appended to it.
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It's been my experience that the companies who worried most about what their IT staff was wearing were the worst to work for.
I certainly agree with you, in that, while working (programming like crazy) and not having to deal with clientele or the outside world, you should be in whatever attire you are most comfortable in. However, when dealing with the outside world, I believe it to be most respective and professional to wear professional attire that is appropriate to that correspondence.
Sure, it's all relative, but just because you're a programmer or even a manager of programmers doesn't mean you have a free pass to represent your company in any way other than the most professional of manners that the present day society has defined.
Just an opinion.
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I'm a computer guy, I wear jeans to work every day, and I'm happy that way. If I'm being asked to speak in front of a large group of people I don't grab something out of the hamper, y'know?
I dunno... I'm always a little more suspicious of people who dress too nicely, act too nicely, write too cleanly or any other things which take effort to get a superficially nice result but nothing else of real value. This suspiciousness extends to organisations that harbour that kind of culture so that, when I have a choice, I avoid them. It always seems to me like they're either compensating for their lack of true value and competence or they are trying to deceive or both. After all, snake oil salesmen always have the most most professional personality and looks.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks like that. Companies that cater to people like me are disadvantaged if they hold high superficial standards.
More than mere navel gazing.
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"However, when dealing with the outside world, I believe it to be most respective and professional to wear professional attire that is appropriate to that correspondence."
In this case, his primary purpose was recruiting. In particular, he wanted to recruit really smart people. Really smart people know that clothes are irrelevant to the job (unless the job is to model clothes or work at IBM). Thus, the appropriate professional attire is (drum roll please) jeans and a t-shirt. Those are the clothes most likely to be appealing to the kind of people that are at a university and that Google wants.
Another way of looking at it is that Google is really interested in hiring from the same group of people who might want to become professors. Such people are notoriously uninterested in the wrapping. As such, it may be more valuable to Google to project a casual attitude (and attire) than to be respectfully professional. In fact, they might even find it advantageous to not hire people like you who are over impressed by clothes. Why? Because you may look down on your scruffily dressed but brilliant colleagues. Maybe Google would be better off if you went to IBM (famous for their uptight dress; in part because they are professionals who deal with business people).
I think that your insight (dressing appropriately is best) is correct. I think that you are misinterpreting what was appropriate to the situation.