Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Is There a Professional Geek Dress Code?
First time submitter KateKintail writes "I'm being promoted to be a director of a computer/web services department at work with staff members (not yet hired) working under me. My workplace doesn't have a dress code 95% of the year. Is this the end of my days of jeans and enjoyably geeky t-shirts? Is there a way to dress professionally in the workplace as a boss (the kind that doesn't need to be defeated at the end of a level) while still showing my Browncoat or Whovian love as I crawl under cobwebby desks to check that equipment is properly plugged in?"
now that you have been promoted to executive management you'll be completely unable to use a computer with in 6 months.
Yes there is, use common sense. It is that simple.
I work in academia... I dress professionally most of the time but occasionally bust out the geeky t-shirt or wear a pair of Converse in leiu of dress shoes. My office also screams geekery.
Boxer shorts and a pocket protector.
Wear Tevas. Doesn't matter what else you have on. Fridays don't wear any shoes at all. For better or worse you'll fit right in.
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
If your interactions are only with people from the company then who cares what do you dress like ?
Yes. You must be dressed when you come to work.
Mission control, 1960's, shall forever be the exemplar of true nerd fashion. However, in a bow to modernity, the pocket slide rule could probably be replaced with a smartphone.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
shouldn't need to derive its judgement of your professionality from your clothing -- as long as you provide professional work, wear whatever you want. If you have meetings with other directors that can't tell if you're good (Dunning-Kruger says hi), wear something similar to what they wear.
NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
In pants, surrounded by discarded Cheetos packets
For day to day operations does it really matter? I do not find a person's dress code at all reflects their abilities and I am damn sure not distracted by what someone wears. Then again I am looking at code all day, not people.
If you're still crawling under desks, then you obviously don't want to be wearing a suit. I just wear my jeans and t-shirt, and occasionally throw an shirt on over the top when I want to be a bit more "professional". The dress code here is "anything with a collar". I got into trouble for wearing awesomely comfortable sweat pants one time, so now I stick with jeans :p
which is totally what she said
If you adopt Mitt Romney's look.
Your staff members should be the ones crawling under the desk. You're the department head for God's sake. Act too busy or something. Rank hath its privileges. Personally, as a self-employed consultant, I wear a button-down with the collar open and black Dickies work pants (non-cargo) as ordinary dress pants rip too easily and get snagged on stuff while crawling under desks.
T-shirts, jeans and sneakers. There you have it.
Cargo pants, muscle shirt and a utility vest full of unfathomable gizmos. Fedora.
Just a middle finger held high, motherfucker.
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
That said, you don't have to wear a suit and tie. Black/Brown shoes, nice jeans, and a long sleeve shirt (untucked).
dress like The Doctor all the time. Bow ties are cool! 8]
When it comes to computer work, if you're high enough in the department to be expected to follow a dress code you're high enough to not have to adhere to said dress code.
Problem solved.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
If you want to move up in your company it doesn't hurt to dress the part. I've seen people who dress in jeans and ratty t-shirts languish in their positions while better dressed sleeved shirt and nice pants (nice shoes too sorry) pass them. I hate to say the truth here but good looking people do better than sloppy looking people. That said it's by no means a reflection of your abilities or aptitude
Are you going to be meeting with upper level management like the CEO or CFO a lot? I have monthly meeting with the Board of Directors and the CEO. The expect business casual. were slacks and a polo shirt, with black dress shoes and a belt.
If I could have it my way all I'd wear would be t-shirts, shorts, and sandals. You really need to look whom you will be interacting with on how you should dress.
I've been considering that. Polo shirt w/cargo pants (darker, rather than lighter) is probably the easiest solution that bridges the gap. If you need to dress up more, just keep an pressed Oxford shirt handy and you should be good.
"My God...it's full of trolls!"
The first rule of geek dresscode is that you don't speak about geek dresscode.
In the computer contracting field, which tends to be semi-profesional dress, what you are shooting for is bussines casual Slacks, black shoes, button up shirt (short or long sleeve) with no patterns on it.
Remember two things, you should not be climbing under things anymore. Directors direct others to do this work. Secondly you are now going to have to play interdepartment politics. this means you are going to have to make sure people take you seriously. this, unfortunatly for humans, means a dominance display in the form of your clothing. You are not going to win a budget fight and be taken seriously wearing clown shoes no matter how correct your argument is.
So accept that in your new world clothes still donates status and ability. You need to adapt because you are not going to change the course of human evolution overnight.
Papa Legba come and open the gate
... for any workplace when it comes to dress:
Look at how your boss dresses. Your normal, "I'm not meeting with clients" work wear should NOT be dressier than your boss on a typical day, but shouldn't be significantly trashier either, unless you have filthy work duty* that your boss doesn't participate in.
Actually this rule of thumb applies to behavior, handling of issues, manner of answering the phone, all kinds of things. Check how your boss and your peers around the company do something, assume it to be the corporate norm, and adapt that corporate norm to your specific situation.
*poking around through a raised floor/dropped ceiling and the like
"Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
Depends on the corporate culture. Definitely wear polo shirts or similar collared shirts; no T-shirts. In some places IT middle management wears jeans; in others it's Dockers or similar khakis. I've been a contractor for a few years, formerly in IT management, and I've seen this dress in many, many places.
Neckbeard? ;)
No.
It's a bit frustrating, but they are very stuck in the 70's that way...but they give IT a decent budget so I cant complain too much :)
If you think your 'look' doesn't effect your ability to get promotions your wrong. For IT involving physical labor the generally accepted dress code (by upper management) is jeans and tucked in shirts with collars. For IT focused on programming and software fixes the general dress code is same as other desk workers (ie sectaries, HR, AP, etc). Just remember as a boss you set the standard for your employees, you show up in jeans and a t-shirt, they show up in shorts and a wife beater (extreme example).
FYI this comes from round table discussions with division supervisors of an enterprise level oil and natural gas company.
Ignore all the "it doesn't matter what you look like" comments you are bound to receive on slashdot.
Dress like the role you want next
Yes, you can wear t-shirts and jeans and stay exactly where you are today.
Dress like an adult. This generally means khakis and a button down shirt or polo shirt.
Sure, sometimes you can slide in jeans, but have nice ones.
No t-shirts. no sandals ever.
go to jcrew, banana republic, etc.
and stop asking slashdot for clothing advice
How you dress sets the tone in the office.
Put on the dress shirt and pants but throw in a geeky binary tie or something
Bow ties are cool.
Nice Jeans/Khakis and a collared shirt. It's not hard, and you look like a respectable but casual person.
As the Director, you get to decide the dress policy for you staff, aside from whatever HR may demand. At least, that is how it is in most workplaces. So, expect your staff to take a cue from you and dress slightly down from whatever you may present. If that ends up being the case, some monogrammed polo shirts might not be bad to keep around (you know, Horde logo, Tardis, etc). For interviews, I would consider wearing the minimum of whatever YOU would expect someone would come to an interview in. Based on what little you wrote, I would guess a polo or bowling/tropical shirt?
Aside from that, I would doubt that dressing up matters much at your workplace if you were promoted to Director and like dressing in t-shirts and jeans.
Wear nice jeans.. not ratty ones. Pick your favorite geeky shit, then slap a nice, earth tone jacket over it. It gives you the professional looking edge over the others, while showing your geek pride.
http://www.automotiveworkwear.com/RedKap/CP40/coveralls.html
Done.
In general, most places that I've been in during my 30 year career have had managers and supervisors generally wearing golf shirts and khaki pants or something similar. This is for places that have no real dress code other than clean, in good repair and not offensive.
I would take a look around the company and see how the rest of the team leaders dress. Regardless of how the geeks dress, you're going to need to peddle influence in order to get your budget and policies passed. The better you dress (without overdressing your higher level managers, the more respect you can garner from people that have no clue about IT.
Check out what your manager and his peers wear and go even with that or *one* step lower. If the company president wears jeans and band tee shirts, it don't matter none...:-)
Especially if you are handling security. I deduce this not from experience, however; I deduce it from Verizon.
Yeah, I keep dropping that link. Can't help it.
Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
There was 1 guy who 100% of the time worked in IT on phone support and never worked in the field so he usually came in grey sweatpants and a Packers jersey. You could actually show up to a million dollar job interview in a Packers jersey in Wisconsin and it'd still be acceptable but not the sweatpants lol.
I'm the head IT manager at my company and I just wear khaki or otherwise tan colored shorts, usually with sort of poofy utility pockets since I carry stuff all the time and I'm definitely not carrying a man purse. For the top, I wear something with buttons and usually lines up and down it. It's sort of a technician look or architect. It's a tiny bit geeky but still would look normal on a non-IT worker and looks pretty good overall. My other 2 jobs had the exact same dress code as well. If any job told me to wear a suit every day just to work in IT, regardless of the position level, I'd tell them to shove it up their ass. I'm pretty skinny but I'd sweat like crazy in something like that, let alone having to crawl under a desk with it to hook up a monitor.
I'm a systems engineer and I dress very nicely for work. There, I said it.
When I first started here about 6 months ago, I got constant (almost snide) remarks from those who were in the extreme side of the casual camp that I was dressing better than everyone else. Well, yes, I am. I care very much about my appearance and being a professional, thank you. When I first started, people didn't dress the part. Within a few weeks of my arrival the office in general started dressing better. Now even those in the casual camp are dressing better and putting in some effort to personal appearance.
No, you don't have to wear a suit or a tie, but if you're in some position of authority/believability I believe you should dress the part. T-shirts and jeans are fine for a college campus, not a company.
If your dress code is full on tux, well, there's not much you can do about that. If it's everything from birthday suit to space suit, then have a riot, HOWEVER...
Jeans are nice and durable, not that you really need it, but some people like crawling in something tougher than dress pants. But jeans aren't really easy to match up with a nicer top. While you don't have to wear a button down (except if your dress code states it), wearing a t-shirt with a decal or something that does not look nice is probably a bad idea (management will probably regard it as unprofessional), but monochromatic black shirts can be your friend.
There's also a khaki cargo pants option. I've always enjoyed this personally because of the extra storage space. And they complement an every day dress shirt very well. If you need to spice things up a bit more you can always wear a tie as well.
If you do choose the t-shirt option, I'd bring a dress shirt and tie in the case you have a meeting or something.
When I made the move from worker bee to director all I did was ditch the tee shirts for (mostly vendor-supplied or company) golf shirts and made sure to have a denim overshirt or corduroy sportcoat handy for improtu meetings w/ CxO-level mtgs. Levis 501s and sneakers were still mandatory for geek cred.
Shit like this is why I got out of computing. Being an office monkey just aint for me.
To quote the new VP of Development at my company, on the day of his promotion: "I stand here before you wearing one brown sock and one blue sock, demonstrating that you do not need to know how to dress yourself to get ahead."
Life is like a web application. Sometime you need cookies just to get by.
Basically, it all depends. Do the other department heads look like an advertisement for J. Crew or for Hot Topic? Remember who is signing your checks, and who has the ability to select or pass you up for further promotions. When climbing up within management, you want to stand out, but in a good way. (As in through your work, initiative and leadership skills.) However you also want to fit in. And while wearing a Han Shot First t-shirt might get nods of appreciation from your WoW guildies, unless your entire office is geek-chic, you'll be seen as an immature kid by the other department heads.
On the flip side, if all the other heads wear suits, that's not practical. I've ruined many a pair of dress slacks crawling around on floors.
T-Shirt and shorts, no other option is acceptable!
What is the world coming to. If you have to ask slashdot what to wear maybe you aren't ready to have people working under you. Just a thought.
In a non-tech company, if you have less than 10 people working under you, you can probably get away with polo shirts, dockers, and casual shoes (probably not sneakers) and always be willing to get dirty helping out. If you have more than 10 people working under you, dress slacks and shirt and tie and never get dirty. In both cases, make sure that when your people are responding to a disastrous incident or on a death march that you're there in the office for them and are doing what you can (picking up lunch, coffee, etc.).
This is how my boss runs things, and I admire him a lot.
Penny Arcade has been starting to put out professional clothing under the "First Party" clothing like. They have polo shirts and ties, I believe. You'll look professional but still show that you aren't a stuck-up suit-wearing ambercrombie-douce wannabe. And they do look spiffy. Just get some kahkis to go with it. You don't really need the tie unless you're meeting with clients and want to wear a button down shirt which I think they have now as well.
-SaNo
If you want to dress up a bit wear khakis. Most of your geeky shirts will probably go with them and they hide under-desk dust well.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
If your company agrees, that is.
As for me, Black Flag t-shirt and jeans is how I roll.
1. cheetos stains are ok on an underling's t-shirt, but as a manager, when you wipe your cheetos hands on your shirt, it should blend in, so you appear professional. therefore, ultraviolet orange is the only shirt color you can wear from now on
2. you should not wear the same jeans more than 3 days in a row. it is ok to set them out and allow the bacterial mass to age for a day or two, and then wear them another day later
3. when you take your shoes off, the sock odor whiff from the cubicle next door should not exceed 220 ppm particulates of fungal matter. this level for managerial positions is more strict than 660 ppm particulates of fungal matter for underlings. so socks must be changed at least weekly. if you have a your own office now, then by all means, you do not have to change your sock policy, private offices are allowed mushroom growth
(* you are asking slashdot for clothing advice. SLASHDOT. what do you expect?)
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Depends on the company, but generally, yes being a "director" mean you dress business professional(i.e. suit tie or equivalent).
If you want to be taken seriously, you need to dress the part.
I go with khakis and polo shirts. Comfortable, but still sorta classy.
Obviously its one of those t-shirts with the tux imprint on it. Casual Fridays is the shirt that has Carlos wearing aviator glasses.
Fashion's not just another avenue for showing off your expertise. Even in the humblest styles, wearing nice clothes is a service to others.
Dress to the role. Apply your expertise with the internet to this -- you can avoid a lot of the cost of shopping by buying from retailers such as www.jackthreads.com or www.gilt.com, and scoping our sales from major retailers.
Your appearance to others is a worthwhile investment.
The quality level where the pattern matches across the pockets and the front. Abstract or floral patterns. Plain tan khakis. If there's any safety hazard in the area, closed shoes.
Bow ties are cool.
but you probably would't know what that is....
Now that KateKintail will have staff/budget a professional style of dress will be required for dealing with the non-technical staff, which probably means collar shirts, durable slacks/tidy jeans of some kind and dress shoes
I experimented with this in a previous position; most people outside tech support/programming dens treated me better when I dressed better.
This includes people who "knew better" and the people who approved budgets or signed cheques.
If you are being promoted to "Director" level, you have more to think about than simply "is this appropriate?" or "am I going to lose my geek cred?"
You need to determine if your new position is going to be one of true decision making authority, with high level direction and little or no socialization with your team (more of a high level director role), or if the position is more of a classic on-hands leadership role where you can walk amongst your team as sort of a "team captain" (more of a manager role).
If you feel like you'll be among your team as a leader, but still considered a peer (albeit a "boss" peer), then business casual is probably fine; maybe even the same way you've always dressed. However, if your new position enforces that weird disconnect between your employees (they are no longer peers, but valued employees) then you need to dress as professionally as possible, and leave all of your "flair" out of the deal. Save that for your office trinkets, or leave it at home. Who are you "one" of now? Dress like those people do.
I don't envy the move to a "director" position for these reasons; while it's an interesting career move, you really do have to set yourself apart through dress and behavior. Your peers will become the other directors, not the team you're managing, and you need to come across as competent in their eyes, too.
Whatever you decide to do, take care of your new team and be a good boss. That's more important than clothes.
Parachute pants.
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My attitude to this is to wear interesting T-shirts (complex attractive design or image, or attractive band logo, or amusing slogan, or so on, but not offensive) in good condition, newer good-condition black jeans (always looks smarter than blue), and smart shoes. I've never been poorly groomed, but I have not become worse groomed either.
This puts me in the category of people who dress casually, but care.
Another way is to mix some more or less formal clothing, such as very good shoes with casual jeans and shirt, or wear an over-shirt open if that fits your image, or so on.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
Geek eye for the non-techie guy.
First episode will be RMS doing a makeover on a zombie Senator Ted Stevens.
The condition of your clothes is just as important as the clothes themselves. As a director, take the extra time to make sure everything fits well, is free of rips/tears, and is pressed (or at very least not wrinkled.) It won't matter what you're wearing if your pants are too short, your shirt if too big, or you're just a wrinkly mess...
The clothes themselves will vary a lot depending on your office and location. I've found that the East coast (particularly from DC, north) is extremely fond of jackets and ties every day, whereas the west coast is much more khakis and polo at best. Just look at what other directors in other departments are wearing and use that as a guideline. If you want to keep the geek references, they're going to have to get a bit more subtle. Wear a bow tie on occasion (I hear they're cool) or a monogrammed polo with some geek reference. A few examples
Or perhaps relegate the geek references to your office (you get an office as a director, right?) On the site I linked above, you'll find Portal inspired book-ends, Tardis coffee mugs, Rubix Cube coasters, etc. More than enough paraphernalia to show off your inner geek. Just keep it somewhat low-key. Don't want people mistaking your office for their kid's bedroom.
This signature is false.
All you need to do as add denim shirts to your wardrobe. Just throw one on and leave it unbuttoned and untucked. Get the kind with a pocket so you can carry a couple of pens and a 6" steel ruler.
But I aint gonna wear a dress or even a kilt regardless of how well it hides my throwing knife.
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
I wear slacks everyday, and they are more comfortable than jeans, on par with sweatpants. They are looser, and allow for freer movement. In the summer they are cooler as well. I don't buy jeans all that often but I think the price is on par, so as far as worrying about stains and such, that level should be about the same. My old slacks become weekend pants. Jeans are for manual labor where the thicker fabric can help protect your skin. Those situations don't often come up in IT work, as opposed to roofing or landscaping.
baffled - no text
This one is easy! And no, I don't work for betabrand, just a fan.
http://www.betabrand.com/hoodies/navy-executive-pinstripe-hoodie.html
http://www.betabrand.com/pants/gray-dress-pant-sweatpants.html
Those horned rimmed glasses are bitch to find! And when you do find them, they're obscenely expensive!
And the skinny ties with - this is a MUST short sleeve white button down shirt, black or navy pants and black shoes.
It's important to maintain a reduced oxygen flow to the brain to remain effective as a manager.
Where I work if we don't have customers in the office it's jeans and polo shirts, sometimes t-shirts shorts and flip flops on hot days. If we get a customer coming into the office it's business casual. You should probably dress at least as well as your best dressed underlings on a regular basis, but lead the way on a casual friday.
There is no memory shortage. yes I have heard of XFCE. Go away.
Coming to work naked is the most geeky thing you could do. I guess. Not sure.
A man Tom Georgens was hired on at LSI back in the late 90's as the president of the company's enterprise storage division (about 600 employees in that division). LSI at the time was a business casual dress code at the time (most everyone wore slacks and a nice shirt, some wore nicer clothes).
Sometime shortly after he became president of the division he was holding a all-hands meeting at their main development center. That day he greeted everyone at the front-door of the building as they walked in. He was dressed in jeans (possibly shorts), sandals, and a t-shirt. From that day forward engineering started to go to a "tech casual" dress code.
A number of years later, Tom Georgens became the CEO of NetApp.
You should wear clothes that fit the enviroment you will be working in for that day. If you plan on meeting with customers you should dress for it. If you are going to just be working with your employees, wear the clothes that you feel is needed to express your attitude towards your employees and peers.
Its not what it is, its something else.
In the matrix they are geeky and cool. Not only that but it implies superpowers.
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3749416704/tt1132620
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3749416704/tt1132620
Tuxedo t-shirt! To quote John C. Reilly: "It says I want to be formal, but I'm here to party!"
BSD is for people who love Unix, Linux is for people who hate Microsoft.
As an engineer, its business casual. Polo or button up shirt Slacks brown or black casual shoes (not sneakers) That said. I keep a pair of coveralls and a tie in my truck. Dress nice, dress professionally, but have a backup plan. No one will think twice about you asking for 10 minutes to grab a pair of jeans and a tee shirt before you start crawling around on the floor showing the workers how to do things correctly. As far as what shirt to wear. go with something plain, no logo, just a solid color. wear it under your polo or dress shirt, toss it when your get dirty or sweaty.
I come in to work dressed almost every morning.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Poloshirt with a popped collar and a pair of tennis shirts worn in the "commando-style" are all the rage, be sure to finish it off with a pair of Top-Siders without socks and a faux-hawk and you will be the fashionista rock-star of the IT Dept.
As a manager or director, you will be directing other people to do things like manual labor, not doing it yourself unless it's a large all hands on deck project. This is the hardest thing that I've had to learn how to do because I still like to roll up my sleeves and get dirty sometimes. Fortunately in my workplace we all wear the same thing (military uniform) and it lends itself to rough work depending on the uniform. Realistically you want to have business casual for day to day, a decent suit for meetings with upper management and you can probably swing the geeky shirts on casual Friday.
and insist that everyone call you Captain.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
That's all you need
No Jeans. Ever. You're not stacking pallets. Unfortunately yes, it is the end of your days of jeans.
Slacks, not Khakis (except, perhaps, on Friday). Black. Maybe grey, depending on how it looks with the rest of your clothes. Black goes with everything, so if all else fails, go black.
Shirt: Button down, opaque, no logos. Undershirt should not be visible (white t-shirt works best). Yes, you are expected to wear two layers of shirt. I would suggest solid colors, although some of the HR and Management guys at my job look decent in plaid and other simple patterns.
The pants and shirt I have in my assigned uniform are a polyester/cotton blend. They don't breathe, at all, but they are nearly indestructible.
Shoes: Black, polishable. Not sneakers. Ask a buddy of yours in the military to help you pick out a good pair of dress shoes / boots, if nothing else. The military guys I work with always have excellent looking boots that they swear are comfortable enough to wear for 16+ hours without killing you. I'm certain some military slashdotter can reply here with suggestions for good, comfortable, decent looking boots.
Socks: Black, not white. Preferably not athletic socks, although you can usually get away with them. You can't get away with white socks. Black.
Tie: Optional for techs, usually. If not, go for a bow tie. Bow ties are cool.
A tweed or Herringbone jacket, and jeans should be enough. You can switch off on a collared shirt & T-shirt. I wouldn't bother with the tie either way.
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
You dress for the job you want, not the job you have. I'd say unless you're at a College, you should wear a nice buttoned down shirt tucked into nice slacks with a belt and a decent pair of shoes.
At least with one type of geek, programmers, there does seem to be an unspoken dress code. One must wear a beard, a goatee, sunglasses, or a hat (not to be confused with baseball cap).
Short sleeve button ups with Dickies Cargo Khakis. Professional, no-wrinkle, durable, plenty of room for cables and a Hexadecimal D16.
Your company should have sent you the new management how to dress video. Seems they didn't, so I will clue you in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisCkxU544c
All corporate dress is an iterative prisoner's dilemma. The first day, wear suit and tie. After that, dress like your boss.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
At a small startup, my boss (director of development) wears cargo shorts, a t-shirt and those Tom's shoes that look like slippers. Our VP of Product wears jeans and a hoodie and is often barefoot while in his office. Probably the most stodgy place I've worked was IBM, and even there there were several managers who wore jeans, polo shirts and athletic shoes. They tended to stay away from shorts, sandals and t-shirts. As a non-manager developer I wore all three (shorts, sandals, t-shirts).
You can still get away with jeans, and the occasional t-shirt, but most days a decent (un-tucked) button up and decent shoes should be a standard. It really depends on the company culture.
As someone who codes, advises, writes, manages, and occasionally contributes to fashion and style magazines, I can speak with some authority on the subject.
As a complete intro:
1. Dress like your boss.
2. Just shop at Brooks Brothers. This isn't an ad, they are in the business of "appropriate."
3. Managing is about relationships and the only thing distinguishing about you should be success.
4. There is no 4th thing.
It has been many a month since a comment made me laugh out loud and scare my coworkers across the hall. I damn near snorted out Coke after reading that one. Congrats to you sir or madam!
I'd recommend a casual dress shirt with your jeans or khakis, tucked or not depending on how casual you can get away with. There's something about a t-shirt that, when worn by most, doesn't say leadership. This matters because your reports need to see you as a leader, and your supervisor needs to see you as a leader.
Polo shirts make you look like a prick. There, yes, I said it.
I vintage or casual blazer over your bear-o-dactyl t-shirt and jeans will have the desired effect without making you look like a suit. You can also easily take it off or put it on depending on who you are dealing with over the course of the day.
Your company never had any kind of dress code, and now you think your dress is inappropriate?
So it means you are self-conscious of what you're currently wearing, and find it incorrect, and want to rectify it.
Simple: make sure you are comfortable with the image you are giving to other people. It's about you, and no one else.
If you think you need to dress up, please do so. If you think you are all right, then please do so. If you really need clothes to give you a superior look, then I guess you should have it. Whatever you need, so you can feel adequate, and just remove that burden from your chest, even if it requires you to throw out all these beautiful t-shirts you own.
I'm in a position of authority right now, I nearly only wear t-shirts. However, the thing I hate the most is being smelly or having some unclean clothes. So I prefer to be very clean, thank you. But I still wear t-shirts.
If I have to meet someone from another company, who might not understand the gaming company's dress code, I will dress up for that occasion, as most people WILL judge the book by its cover. But so far, I have not dressed up for anything internal, including the day I was interviewed.
Good luck!
Coffee mug accessory is a must "Office Space"
If you are in a leadership role you need to dress the part. You are in a position of authority and the first element of assuming control revolves around your subordinates perception via your non-verbal gestures. I don't think that gives you a free-pass to being a great boss but that first step will make it easier.
I put on clothes when I have a meeting. Especially from the waist up. Shows on the remote monitor. Adjusted to fit the meeting audience.
I usually have on enough that I do not shock anyone if I have to stand and go get something out of reach. (Just in case!)
After the meeting, back to sweats or less.
For men, military style tactical boots, kept polished, can be almost indistinguishable from dress shoes, and are an order of magnitude or two more comfortable. In addition, the type with steel toes and non-slip soles are approved footwear for any place I have ever been that required safety boots.
Add a set of comfortable gel insoles to those and you will have foot nirvana all day.
For women, stick with comfortable shoes over pretty/fancy ones. Even sitting at a desk all day, your feet have a major impact on your overall comfort. Low heels or flats that match a variety of clothes can be life savers. And don't forget that you too can use the lovely gel insoles to improve comfort.
In either case, it is also nice to be able to sneak the shoes off under a desk and stretch your feet out while you work. Just keep clean feet and no one will even know. (Except the support monkey checking your Ethernet cables)
If you are sitting for longer hours than standing and moving around, wear a belt that is slide adjustable instead of one that has pre-punched holes. Remember that the longer you are sitting, the more your spine compresses and the more your girth temporarily increases (no matter how fit you are).
If you end up having to wear dress shirts and find them uncomfortably hot or cool, Under Armor and similar companies make thermal regulating undershirts in a variety of colors, including black, white, and neutral/tan that work well enough for desert and cold weather troops. They are well worth the investment in my opinion. They also allow you to slip off a dress shirt if you have to do a desk dive, dust yourself off in the appropriate restroom, and return to full dress without missing a beat.
You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.
Specifically, the size of the company. If you are a director and will have to "crawl under cobwebby desks to check that equipment is properly plugged in", your company is not big enough for you to worry too much about your day to day dress at the office unless your superiors have a tendency to bring by big, important clients.
So, your day to day dress should be what you think is appropriate for the work you do and meets the requirements of the company dress code, which may not even exist. For days when you will be meeting with clients, etc. you should wear business attire, possibly even a suit.
Oh, and keep a set of working clothes at the office just in case you have to do some work on a day you need to dress up.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Watch Office Space, and don't forget the coffee cup in your hand. Make sure they have a cover sheet on their TPS Report!
Pair a nice suit with a Casio Databank watch. (Yes, I do this.)
Pocket protectors, horn rimmed glasses, short sleeve button up shirts and pant cuffs that go above the ankel.
If youre going to be a geek dress like one, they are all losers anyway.
...dress like your boss. Otherwise dress however you like :)
We've all heard most of the advice here. I've seen cases where either side of the argument is correct; it ultimately comes down to the culture of your organization. For my part, when I was younger and my goal was to be taken more seriously, I found that overdressing for my part was useful. These days, I have to underdress so people won't find me so aloof and intimidating. In your situation, I'd probably keep the geek-cred. I've seen it handy for attracting and retaining talent.
Find out what your analogs are doing in other departments. If they are suits every day, then you need to get some suits. If they're collared shirts/kakis M-Th, Casual Friday then get some casual polos/kakis for non-fridays and display your geek cred on friday. Obvious exceptions when you have visitors in the building or you're presenting to a group that has a higher dress code.
For a guy
After 21 years and 2 months your expected to stop wearing sweat shirts and t-shirts and step up to jumpers or sweaters when weather appropriate. For most indoor denizens that equals year round.
Correct fitting, White shirt or Light blue shirt, oxford or broads cloth (never satin or twill), pointed collars are as casual as you should go. 50% cotton, no more unless you dry clean, and you must learn to iron your shirts
Polo and knit are acceptable if you work at Best Buy or similar, but inappropriate most other places. if in doubt do not error on the side of casual, a job is a job, not a social function - until proved otherwise
Black shoes are a fashion no-no unless dressing for an interview, dining in the evening, wearing a tux or going to a funeral
Brown oxford, blucher is more the expected, rubber sole unless you plan to spend a lot of money on shoe maintenance, hard soles in general are not safe for a tech worker. Get a good shoe fit, use a shoe stretcher if needed and use shoe trees, learn about them
If your hands on, strongly consider not wearing a watch or rings, again hazardous to your health
Belts should match shoes, no exception, fabric belts are too casual
Socks should match pants, never shoes, concept is if you find yourself without your shoes for any reason the socks should not clash with the pants
use colors and stripes sparingly and only on good authority or advice, or when trying to fit in with a corporate uniform
in an private office or cube environment, a good wool jacket is basic and generally expected
ties usually don't permeate the tech profession, but they are still appropriate in many situations, especially technical support for sales
Those are the basics
A manager has to dress "more" appropriate than the workers to demonstrate if not uphold a dress code, and to have ground when discussing inappropraite dress at work
Then why change what you wear? Maybe Im missing someting, but unless your boss specifically said to change what you wear, it seems perfectly reasonable to continue with what you used before. How the boss (you) dresses sets the tone somewhat. Though perhaps something that blends in with various coffee, soda, and doritos type stains, since its less acceptable among higher level people to have visible stains covering a significant percentage of their clothing. And if your doing a lot of crawling around and that sort of stuff, try and keep the holes in your pants to a minimum. Good luck, and I hope your conversion to manager-demon is as painless as possible. Oh, and why on EARTH would anyone ask slashdot for clothing advice... Im surprised at how few terrible suggestions there were.
...in an area where people are paid for the synapses hidden deep in those 1852 g of gray mass residing some 2.5 cm beneath their hair bulbs.
I worked for a .com as .com was going the way of the 1929 Stock Market.
Our HR manual had a section titled "Dress Code"
It Said:
We don't have a dress code. Don't be the reason we need one.
Ahhh. The sanity in those insane days!
Your options are:
1. khakis + polo
2. khakis + short sleeve button down shirt (not hawaiian) - this is my consultant "uniform". boring but functional (comfortable, no dry cleaning required, inexpensive)
3. black jeans + shirt above - cheating, but works
4. blue jeans + button down shirt with japanese art on it (Koi or Geshi or something) + sport jacket - basically what non-geek would consider friday night attire.
5. black slacks + any shirt above
#4 is a bit geek-chic, but for a boss at a trendy web company it generally works.
obviously in all cases you wear good shoes. no retro sneakers, skater shoes or sandals.
if you're a CEO with $100m+ in assets you can wear whatever you want. a pink floyd t-shirt, cargo shorts, and sandals. then people will think you're a creative eccentric.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I'm team lead for a technical team, BAU dress is jeans + polo shirt (all black). If a customer is due onsite then I'm wearing chinos and a shirt and tie,
All of my managers are in suits without ties. I'd wear mine more if I could still fit in to it.
khakis, shoes, polo for the geeks.
slacks and dress shirts for the supervisors
add a tie if your a manager
anything above that, you need a suit.
You really shouldn't be doing coke at work
Not too long ago when I worked for IBM, I was sent to work on a project in one of Boston's fleet street banks. Not knowing anyone else working on the project and seeing how it was a financial institution and not say, a car wash, I showed up to work in a suit and tie on the first day. I was a bit overdressed, as I didn't get the memo that the first day was going to be setting up the office, pushing desks around and setting up networks and computers in some war-room format. I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room with my new co-workers milling around in jeans and casual shirts. Presently, a door opened and a similar suited grey hair scanned the crowd, spotted me, and made a beeline to where I was standing. He handed me some papers and started on some legalese jargon while I nodded thoughtfully, wondering who the heck he was. Then out of the crowd came someone who turned out to be my boss and intercepted the papers and stood in between with his back toward me to talk to the client. I got the message and made myself scarce. Later my boss found me and plucked at my jacket and said I needed to dress down and blend in, the client was watching expenses and didn't want more high level people on the site than specified in the contract. My then-boss was wearing a "Mr. Bubble" t-shirt that day, and I have to say his wardrobe didn't improve much over the course of the project.
Some days I just wear a suit and tie for the heck of it. It's the new way to defy authority in these modern times.
The promoted a 12 year old to Director?
Oh dear.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Plain and simple.
I have to laugh at all my "peers" whom are deskbound.
My REQUIRED dress, because of union contract rules, even though I am NOT in the 'bargaining unit', is Fire Resistant everything, pants, shirts, socks, hats, coats, gloves, even undies if you are willing to use the annual allowance for them. Add to that, required safety BOOTS, and a VERY limited choice of prescription safety glasses, and the entire issue of "dressing one step up" is a laugh!
The working world for "geeks" is much more than cubicle farms and corporate shills.
Before the annual allowance, I had to pony up a grand every couple of years to maintain my own PPE; frankly, I would rather have a market based hourly salary without all the "benefits".
Definitely wear pants.
In all seriousness, feel the mood of the office. What are your job peers wearing? What does the person you report to wear and those who report to you? You don't have to emulate them and can still be an outlier, but you're in trouble if they are wearing ties and you're wearing shorts and sandals. You're probably safe with pants/jeans, a collar (on a shirt, not by itself) and shoes (comfy vs dress shoes, your choice).
Well, you should probably think about who you're dressing for:
If you wear the same clothes you're saying to the world that this job won't change you, you are trying to tell your old peers, who are now your subordinates, that you are still one of them. You probably made fun of management and the way they dress and since you ARE management now, you don't want to look ridiculous.
Stop it, you took the job already, nobody expects you to keep dressing the same, not even your friends. And you are their boss now, so you cant be that friendly either.
If you dress up, business casual, most everybody will expect you to do that anyway, so nobody's going to think less of you, and if they do, I bet they're not the sort of people that get promoted to positions like yours, so you shouldn't care about what they think, at least not as far as fashion goes.
I'm always right, except when i'm not.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.timscott.sliderule
They say you should always dress for the job you want, not the one you have. I got just had a disciplinary meeting for wearing my Batman costume.
Make a statement the first day. And just to confuse everybody, a tuxedo the following day. Then cross-dross the third day. If you survive by the end of the week, you will be able to wear whatever you want without anybody thinking twice about how you dress normally.
Serious post: Look to your peers at the same level as you, and +1 you. That's your dress code. If you have the room in your office / cube, have a spare set of clothes available to dress up / down as appropriate.
Wearing a juniper tshirt to a Cisco sales meeting might get you some bargaining leverage. I've heard of people leading the Cisco sales people right past the racks with competitor's equipment in it as a way of pointing out that they have options...
Please, if you are female, wear something that doesn't show cleavage or mini skirt. This is work place, not your family / friends get together. Hell I would be perfectly happy if all my female co-worker dress like Hilary Clinton. If you are male, shirts and slacks will do, or polo with jeans. Others do have good advice, use your boss as the guild line.
I don't hold it against someone if they want to dress nicely for work, but for people doing back-room software development and never talking to customers or vendors in person then as long as they're dressed neatly (no ripped or worn-out clothes, no offensive slogans/pictures, etc.) I see no problems with dressing casual.
Seems to me that all the people posting here looks like the average IT dorks that no one really cares about or likes (may be not a problem for most of them but will be a problem for you if you have people under you). Here is a bit of advice:
1. No jeans, never, even on fridays. We are not cowboys we shouldn't be wearing those heavy, prone to show dirt, completeley styless garments. I really don't know how most people talk about them as the most comfortable thing on earth. I assume they are talking about psychologial comfort, the bulk of the western world had been using them since childhood and they are know a sort of collective safety blanket.
2. Use clothes that you'll dry wash every 4-5 uses, full suits (or they femenine skirted or woman's cut trousers equivalent) look the best but combinations are OK as long as you use some common sense (google matching rules if you are completely lost).
3. Don't be flashy. avoid trends that are obviouskly going to fade or srtiking patterns, if you are a girl make sure your skirt is not to short and your cleavage is not to much. As a manager you are going to be commented by your underlings, don't give them material to make negatives comments about something as superficial as clothing.
3. If you are a man make sure your socks match your trousers, the whole point of dress pants is to look slender, matching socks contribute greatly to said slenderness. Also ALWAYS match your belt/shoes/watch strap (bracelets are a different story, they go well with everything).
4. Don't show off your geekines in a visual way. I have t-shirts from thinkgeek, minibosses concerts, RMS talks, and ACM contests that I wear with pride on weekends, but the job is a different story. If you wanna be classified as a geek quote the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy in your coffe breaks. Not everybody understands or relates to geek culture, avoid the embarassing situiations of explaining your space invaders themed nail job/tie to your superiors.
I'm not trying to be a jerk but the regular office clothing has a motive: I bet most of us look down on people wearing Ed Hardy sparkling apparel, the same way many people look down on us geeks. The working uniform makes it easy to different people colaborate with others with different tastes and opinion(human nature is a bitch).
While I'm not an expert in fashion for males or females, you don't have to look far to notice that there are lots of tech CEOs that just throw a sports coat or blazer on top of their t-shirt and jeans. No one questions their authority or style, and it projects the confidence of a real owner. You already have the jeans and t-shirt, so I'd suggest picking up a few sport coats or blazers to wear with them. It adds that aura of authority, and is easily removed/swapped.
Funtime Candy Wow! - my plan for eventually conquering Japan.
Suit up. Enjoy the awesomeness.
Add one more to the pointy haired boss pool.
Welcome to the dark side.
By the username, I'm assuming you're female. If you decide to stick with jeans, invest in some that are a dark shade, are well-fitted (get them tailored if you can't find a pair that fits perfectly), and are in good shape. Make sure you buy better quality tops; it shows. Some unique detailing will help, too. Invest in a few unique, shorter blazers that you can take on and off when needed (us ladies are always cold in those damn offices and server rooms anyways).
I've invested a little in a couple of decently-made pants (i.e. wool pants with good drape). If you hunt around a designer outlet store, scan the sale racks at some of the nicer department stores, or visit someplace like Winners, you can pay a reasonable amount for a mid-range item. I have a pair of Anne Klein wool pants that have taken a lot of abuse, still look pretty good, and have a couple more years use in them. Good wool is actually pretty hardy.
Stash a pair of dress pants and shoes at work, in case of big wig clients or meetings.
Some of that general advice would apply to the guys, too. Buy nicer stuff, and keep it in good condition. If you typically don't wear business, store one 100% business outfit (including shoes and dark socks) at work. I've noticed a lot of the men's suit stores now sell semi-casual shoes, shirts, and higher-end jeans that are meant to be worn together, sometimes with a sport coat. That will make a much better impression than your worn-out shoes from Wal-mart, and the $15 - 50% polyester shirt you picked up from the mall. Impressions really do matter.
For everyday apparel, I would go with the same level of formality as the other people of your (new) level in the company.
If you are meeting with customers, it's all about knowing them. Don't come in an IBM style blacksuit-whiteshirt-tie clothes if you are meeting with jeans and t-shirt guys.
And don't listen to people saying "You must wear slacks and a shirt" or any such idiocy. It always depends on the local culture. I work at a gaming studio at the moment, and people at all levels are just going with the style they are comfortable in. Studio head is consistently jeans+t-shirt. Before that, online poker where it was uniformly jeans/khakis/slacks + polo/shirt across the whole company. Before that, management consultancy - even the drones were suit-and-tie.
And when it comes to the notion of "dress above your position so people think of you as a boss". My personal (but untested belief) is that dress so you look good, while not going below the expected formality is the optimal strategy.
As long as it doesn't come from the Gap or Banana Republic, you're probably okay.
Also ties are out, not even if they're from Think Geek; unless you're cosplaying as The Dr.
Suits are okay--but still no tie!, on occasion, but they have to be nice, say Italian Cashmere, but it must be silk lined.
The company I work for is a family business. The father wears blue jeans and polos mostly and son wears t-shirts (giveaway shirts a fashion shirts) and shorts. If I wore a polo and a pair of khakis, people would ask if I'm going to a visitation later. If I wore a tie they'd ask me where I was applying when I got off work. When the FedEx reps come to call on us they leave their ties in the car. That's who we are. I've settled for mostly button up shirts, with shorts or jeans and the occasional geek cred shirt.
You are running a department and will have to make customers and management think you are responsible.
Yes, it is the end of jeans and t-shirts. You don't have to wear power outfits. Button down shirts and slacks would do, or the female version. Don't wear sandals or sneakers either. Look for role models.
When i graduated from Entry level IT on a deployment team to a full time position i changed from t-shirts (solid colored ones) to solid color polo shirts, at my current place of employment, they are big on the United way fundraising, and as part of that they had a Jeans day event. Well we got told that we shouldent be wearing jeans without a sticker, and we should be wearing "Dockers". Nothing more was specified. So, since i'm the kind of guy to be climbing around stuff i dident want to wear nice dress pants, i got some dockers cargo pants, which have worn really really well for the work i do (havent ruined a pair at work yet!) and are very comfortable with large pockets. No one has ever said anything about them since they are not jeans and they are actually "dockers" brand.
one of our teachers always had a tux somewhere on his clothes, either he wore a tshirt below his (open) blazer with a tux print or he had a pin on the blazer itself.
it's more likely than you think.
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
And a Fez
What, my star trek uniform is not good enough for you?
I left Jeans and T-shirts behind as I grew older rather than climbed the Career ladder and mostly wear Chinos and open knecked cotton shirt. It seems to me that you are in a position to set a dress code. The rule I use is that the dress should be situationally appropriate, I expect people to be smart for meeting with clients, but that doesn;t mean a suit. A clean ironed Polo Shirt and Chinos is smarter than a tatty old Rayon Lounge Suit.
Always dress for the position you want, not the position you have.
Hit the Gap, buy some business casual clothing. Wear said clothing from Monday to Thursday. Friday you can wear your jeans and geek shirts.
Entry-level tech: comfortable clothing that isn't revealing. Guys, tshirt or "work shirt" and nice jeans. Gals, the same, but no skirts or dresses. Too many freaks out there.
Mid-level tech/management: depends on how much of either on the floor work vs dealing with the public you would incur.
I'm a sysadmin and have been in denim and tshirts, polo, and button shirts for over 15 years. If I know I have a meeting, I may come in kahki and button or polo. Most women that we have across campus that are in IT are usually in either jeans or slacks/pant suits. As I learned years ago, you want to dress according to your job. My boss, our IT manager, normally wears slacks, slip on shoes, and a polo shirt. Button up shirts/ties are usually for very important meetings. Seeing that he is more in the public eye than the rest of us, then he is a bit dressier. Since we are a university, we also wear shirts given to us by the department and they have been changing from tshirts to polos or button.
Good luck with the new job.
A lot of others have weighed in, and I'm in the "Dress as your peers (not as those you supervise)" camp. And your supervisors should dress better than you.
But I really wrote to share - on my old briefcase satchel I had epoxied a Wrath of Khan Captain's rank bars on the flap. Other Trekkies instantly got it, I was occasionally asked about it and I replied honestly, others didn't. I also took quarter inch StarFleet Insignia and epoxied them to plain tie bars. (Now I've been here long enough I do not have to wear ties anymore and I don't, and one can obtain the same style tiebar commercially.) But I still have a TARDIS USB hub on my desk and I carry arounjd a Sonic Screwdriver Screwdriver from ThinkGeek.
shouldn't need to derive its judgement of your professionality from your clothing
I had a CEO (years ago) that said he always paid great attention to clothing when visiting a business for his VC friends. Business where he would soon be CEO if they invested.
Jeans and t-shirt demonstrate a liberty that translate in free flow of ideas and the acceptance of contradicting points of view that ultimately result in sound products and good development.
On the other hand, when everyone wears a suit and tie, surely many of them are forced to dress like that, demonstrating a culture of "shut-up and do what you're told". New ideas are not welcome, improvement only comes from management and problems takes longer to fix since the "little coders" wait for the business process to ask them to fix problems instead of doing it.
Now I always look how people are dressed when I go in for interviews and refuse offers of suit-only workplaces.
1 - look one level up from where you will be, and check their approach to clothing. You are on a level that interfaces between your people and that level above - match upwards, not downwards. Your staff knows you're the boss (a good boss doesn't need to stress that), and the people above you must see you as part of the team to make you effective in both camps. Good grooming goes with that, but that should be second nature at any level. Don't overdress, though, or you fall out of line with people at your own level.
2 - buy good brands if your income allows it. The better brands stay nice much longer. Focus on things you can combine, but keep it simple and sober as that is more classy and less fashion/season sensitive.
3 - shoes are important. One of the little secrets of bodyguards and doormen is shoes. Make sure they are new, or at least well cared for and run off heels/soles repaired. Just spend some time in a business district having a coffee and watch what shoes people wear - you'll soon see what I mean.
Good luck. Building and leading your own team is fun and very rewarding if you get it right.
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