Image is Everything
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Grant Fritchey (1/9/2009)
blandry (1/9/2009)
To me, nothing is any worse than a guy wearing a suit and tie who looks like he has been forced to wear a suit and tie and is about as comfortable in a suit and tie as a cat would be in water, e.g. highly desiring to jump out of it.Then again here, late in my career, I have a closet full of suits and ties that have not seen "action" in (whoa...) well over a decade. And with the way my weight fluctuates, well Steve, if you need a couple suits and ties I have everything from a 40 regular to a 44 long... and I know one of them would go quite nicely with that handsome tee shirt you're wearing!
But when it comes to attire, I noticed no one seemed to mention my dreaded pet peeve.... Women, or men, with 2,000 ear or visible body piercings... As a child of the 50's and 60's I still have difficulty with younger folks who have more metal attached to body parts than there is armor plating on an M1 Abrams tank. Same goes for tatoos.
If you work for me, dress casually, heck, come in in your bathing suit if you want! But show up with disgusting piercings or way-too-over-loud tatoos and well, admittedly, sad as it may be, I am just not "hip" to that.
Geez, I hope I don't have to work for you any time soon. I've dropped all the piercings, but the tattoos are there to stay.
I think that one is generational, speaking as a child of the 60's & 70's.
But, I will hide the tattoos during job interviews and client visits.
Don't tar the whole generation with one brush. I was born in 1953 (in fact, today is my birthday), and I don't mind piercings and tats as long as they are not totally sideshow material. (I'm thinking of a show I recently saw about a guy who had his tongue cut and various facial tats so he could better look like a lizard.)
I've also worked with a guy who was born in the 70's who, I swear, probably wears pleated pajamas. Brian wore crisp white shirt with tie and jacket even when the building we worked in had no A/C and the temps were over 100 degrees F.
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I always wear business casual at work. Jeans just don't do it for me in the work place. Call me old school, but when I am at home I were lounge clothes, when I am in a professional environment I dress so.
Something about jeans at work just makes me unproductive. Probably a mental thing as my first 10 years out of college I had to wear a suit and tie, which I hated.
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Image matters. I don't mind the T-shirt. But I think your photo is awful.
Is that a giant green ameoba growing off of your head & shoulder?
Is the room under construction? I see 2x4s and wiring of an unfinished wall.
What's with the shading around the image? Is that someone's idea of photo retouching?
You can wear whatever you like, but our image of you is formed by a bad photo.
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mhaskins (1/9/2009)
Scott.Young (1/9/2009)
...Unfortunately image does matter to the upper management of Corporate America.Yes, yes. I have been waiting for those ol' boys to retire. Not just to change the dress code either. :rolleyes:
Don't count on them retiring and not being replaced by others just as stuffy.
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Steve!
I couldn't agree more!
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gcopeland (1/9/2009)
2. Absent any other guidance, all technical professionals should shoot for a wardrobe appearance as close to this as they can possibly get: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/images/080625gates_retiring.jpg. Once again, this is simply a fact, and there is no need to argue.So now I have to go out and buy a bunch of V-neck sweaters and wear them in 80+ F temperatures in Florida?
I agree you should be neat and clean and I don't understand the infatuation people have with jeans, I find khakis more comfortable. As long as you are neat, clean, and modest (not too tight, short, and/or displaying body parts that should be private), it really shouldn't matter.
Jack Corbett
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gcopeland (1/9/2009)
Women in technical jobs face significant gender discrimination in any workplace setting. They frequently encounter situations where their technical expertise is not accepted as readily as that of comparable men. In a nutshell: it is always a mistake to dress like men. You should shoot for a smart, professional look that incorporates feminine jewelry and colors, such as royal purple, that men would not wear.Maybe I'm just lucky, but as a woman with almost 25 years in the workforce, much of it in IT, I have not encountered the gender descrimination you describe. With a couple of exceptions early in my career, the people I work with couldn't care less about what I wear, although I do try to dress appropriately for given situations. I have found that demonstrating I am competent at my job is the easiest way to gain the respect of my peers and managers.
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Alex Pinder (1/9/2009)
I have been unfortunate enough to be beaten with the dress code stickOur company has no dress code and staff usually dress casual in all our offices, with various hairstyles/colours. One of the senior managers took offence to my 'non-natural' hair colour (I'm the only one in head office with a bright red mohican) as it didn't project the appropriate corporate image. I told them I'd meet them half way and changed the colour to match the company logo - a lovely vivid purple colour - and explained that I don't see clients, and that it doesn't affect my ability
Nothing more has been said 😎
I wish I wish I had your courage. I have a hidden rebellious streak - I have promised myself that my last day of work before I retire I am going to get a purple Mohawk for work. (I first thought of doing this when having to deal with the Brian I mentioned above.)
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Interesting discussion. I liked the comment about the expectations of different cultures. My wife is Russian and I am American. They way she dressed or was expected to dress is totally different that what we do here in the USA. If she wasn't dressed to the nines every day, then she wasn't considered professional. Even when I worked in Sao Paulo Brazil, same thing...if I wore a suit and tie (try that in 40C weather) it was difficult but expected. Thankfully my host father saw things differently.
As to someone suggesting to wear a Kilt and climb under a desk....been there done that. Interesting to say the least. Actually, at the bank where I used to work that was one of the reasons that the IT staff got to dress down (polos and khakis) and the rest of the bank staff still had to wear business attire. One of the IT ladies had to crawl under the president's desk for some cabling rework and he didn't know she was there and saw her in an awkward position and the code was changed later that day.
Also, for me, yes, the first impression counts but can you backup up your skills or what you can do after that is more important for me. I remember one situation with the Bank where the president, CIO and myself had to meet with a new service provider. Their sales/management team and us were in our business suits. Their head programmer and security person was dressed in his best PUNK attire, tats and piercings galore. The bank president, cringed and was about ready to walk when I stopped him and said let's just listen. Within ten minutes of talking with him, the president totally changed his perspective and actually signed the agreement that day.
So Steve, with the help that you have provided on this site, you can wear whatever you want...I believe you have earned everyone's respect.
SJ
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Steve Jones - Editor (1/9/2009)
And Grant in a suit!?!?!!!I can sometimes pretend to be civilized for hours at a time.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
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Reminds me of an old Peanuts strip where Linus only polishes the heals of his shoes with the justifictaion "I t doesn't matter what people think of me when I enter the room, only what they think when I leave"
I once had a manager give me a whole lecture about how he got to where he was because his suit cost him $300, blah, blah blah... First of all I was wearing dress pants and shirt, ust no tie because of the chance of it being caught in a cooling fan of the equipment I was working on at the time. Second of all his suit could have cost him $1000 and I wouldn't have thought any more of him.
He droned on and on with all the typical phrase (you need to dress for the job you want, appear is everything, etc). My response - "Playing dress-up is for little girls" I was there to work, not put on a fashion show. As long as your clothing isn't advertising personal opinions on topics any company would normally discourage discussion of in the workplace (I.e. religion, racial / sexual bias, politics) that should have no problem with clean, untorn clothing.
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jpowers (1/9/2009)
I challenge you men to imagine yourselves wearing pantyhose and skirt (okay, change that to kilt if if you can't go all the way to skirt), and rolling around on the floor disconnecting cables!No imagination required. I have two kilts (so far) and I've done all sorts of work in them. I don't see the issue 😛
Oh, and as a warning to others, jumping out of the back of a pickup in a kilt... it lifts up, like a parachute... just letting others know as a public service message.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore RooseveltAuthor of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning -
Grant Fritchey (1/9/2009
No imagination required. I have two kilts (so far) and I've done all sorts of work in them. I don't see the issue 😛
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from your angle you wouldn't be able to. 🙂
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This is my third comment and reply here, so I'll make it short this time. My first was very long.
I have a Digital Photography business as a Evening/Weekend job. Sadly, so, Yes the title of this forum is true "Image" or "Perception" IS everything.
But only till they get past that facet of yours and see more deeply. So it is a "Hook" until people know you more.
No matter who you are, even if only for a moment, you do categorize/prejudge or feel certain way about looks. Some may even make you frightened if encountered in a dark tunnel.
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gcopeland (1/9/2009)
I am probably the HR guy that Steve mentioned in his article. I could write a book on this subject, but I will try to keep it short. I urge you to heed my advice.1. Everyone has an opinion on workplace attire and almost everyone thinks his or her opinion is right. Virtually all of you are wrong. Non-verbal communication, including what you wear, sends a more powerful message than anything you do or say...
Yeah I agree...not.
The message I'm hearing is it doesn't matter that I couldn't write a report in T-Sql if my life depended on it or code my way out of a wet paper bag because I'm wearing a 3pc suit.
A really good IT employee is the kind of guy where the "rubber hits the road", and can be the backbone of a successful businesses especially when network access is critical to the company.
None of those qualities have anything to do with clothes, I've never seen anyone solve a technical problem with their suit as of yet.
Right now I'm wearing a UFC 91 T-shirt (and jeans) and I just finished solving a problem for a fellow employee, what would have changed if I was wearing a suit instead???
I think if you can get the job done and your boss doesn't take offense with what your wearing then go for it!!!!
BTW, Brock Lesnar's brother Chad used to work at my company!!!
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