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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?"

20 of 432 comments (clear)

  1. Better learn to dress well because..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    now that you have been promoted to executive management you'll be completely unable to use a computer with in 6 months.

    1. Re:Better learn to dress well because..... by Razgorov+Prikazka · · Score: 5, Funny

      What my girlfriend used to do cheating her way trough highschool: write imortant stuff on your upper leg, about an inch or so up the end of the skirt. Move the skirt a little up and get your info. Move it back when the teacher comes around patrolling. The teacher (M) cant search you there for that would be inappropriate ;-)
      So, first up on the leg: 1 check all cables 2 try turning it off and on again. Now no one will ever know she forgot how to use a computer!
      Kate is a female name right??

      --
      rm -rf --no-preserve-root / ...and let /dev/null sort them out...
    2. Re:Better learn to dress well because..... by RaceProUK · · Score: 4, Funny

      Kate is a female name right??

      It's short for Bob.

      --
      No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
    3. Re:Better learn to dress well because..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      No UID and yet you still dog-pile onto the first post to dog-pile onto the first post.

      I'm sorry, what was your point exactly?

    4. Re:Better learn to dress well because..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nothing says YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME quite like black leather and stilettos. :)

    5. Re:Better learn to dress well because..... by bluescrn · · Score: 3, Funny

      They're called 'women', aren't they... I wouldn't worry about encountering many of them in a computer-related company.

    6. Re:Better learn to dress well because..... by nude_noot · · Score: 4, Funny

      Otherwise dress at least one step up from those you supervise, or better yet at an equivalent step to what your new supervisors are wearing

      What if his new subordinates take that advice too? Then they're trying to dress equivalent to him, while he's trying to dress one step up from them.

      It's a vicious cycle that'll see them all wearing Gucci tuxedos (or whatever is the highest in style).

  2. Re:Dress Code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If he had common sense do you really think he would be asking a bunch of nerds for fashion advice?

  3. First rule of geek dresscode by sourcerror · · Score: 5, Funny

    The first rule of geek dresscode is that you don't speak about geek dresscode.

  4. Re:Look to Gene Kranz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...but only if the smartphone has the slide-rule app installed

  5. Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bow ties are cool.

  6. Mismatched socks by khendron · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
  7. you need to wear orange* by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
  8. Re:Dress Code by dcsmith · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... What is "common sense" to you is not to another. Dress codes are superficial.

    That's just common sense.

    --
    This has been a test. If this had been an actual Sig, you would have been amused.
  9. Re:Dress Code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Since when does a female, nerd or otherwise, ask a male nerd for actual fashion advice? That's not exactly our strong suit.

  10. Re:Contractor wear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It works both ways. I would (wrongly) rather have a guy in a black geeky t-shirt handle my web server then a guy in a suit.

    Quite - I've found that my long hair/jeans/combat boots look gets me treated more seriously as an admin than a guy in a suit. Though I also think my lack of a proper Unix wizard beard is really holding back my career.

  11. Wear a Star Treh captain's uniform by wisnoskij · · Score: 4, Funny

    and insist that everyone call you Captain.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  12. Re:Look to Gene Kranz by HeckRuler · · Score: 4, Funny

    The concept of a program to simulate a slide-rule on a smartphone both enrages the efficiency-minded and practical part of me and makes my inner-geek sqwee with want.

    So now I hate and admire you.

  13. Re:Dress Code by KateKintail · · Score: 5, Funny

    Strong SUIT. I see what you did there. And better to ask fashion advice from fellow nerds in my industry than from my beauty queen of a younger sister who'd probably have a heart attack looking at my wardrobe :-)

  14. Re:Does it really matter by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Funny

    KETCHUP?! With LOBSTER you want KETCHUP?!