Fair, but I'd say most (at least more than other industries) people in tech dress how they want. Businesses everywhere are trending toward more casual wear simply because, given the choice, most people would rather dress down. Tech just jumped right to the logical conclusion faster: dress how you want and how you're going to be most productive as long as you're not disrupting others.
You can dress as you want in SV as long as it's close to the standard. Try going to work in nicer clothes. You'll get plenty of comments. You're the outsider in the group. People question if you belong.
No, of course you won't be told that you can't dress that way. You'll still feel it. It will still affect you.
It wasn't until I dressed down to jeans and a long sleeve button up that I actually got an offer. Honestly, I think no matter what environment you're in you have a better chance of success if you play to your audience a bit.
It's rare when someone interviews in a suit, but when they do it comes up in evaluations and not as a positive indicator.
It could just show that the candidate is out of touch with the tech scene, which might mean that they're not going to do as well as some other candidates. I do agree it discriminates against those who may not be from the area or from a traditional background, but SV is nowhere as "exactly as judgey as Wall Street."
SV as a whole is way more meritocratic and willing to take a chance on smart candidates. Try telling Goldman that you're a hard working candidate who has been studying up econ and finance textbooks on your own and would like an internship.
Lastly, discriminating against someone for NOT wearing a $1k sounds a lot worse than wearing one. You can always dress down but not everyone can dress up!
That was funny. Have you tried doing standup?
Yes, there are startups that do take those chances. But SV as a whole... not really. It's just as bad on using degrees as a filter as any other place.
> Try telling Goldman that you're a hard working candidate who has been studying up econ and finance textbooks on your own and would like an internship.
Try telling that to a large number of companies in SV and you'll find similar results.
> Lastly, discriminating against someone for NOT wearing a $1k sounds a lot worse than wearing one.
It sounds about equally bad to me. It's not a matter what people can or cannot do about it, it's about the fact that you use completely irrelevant details to guide your decision.
What's with the "witty" personal remarks? My comment wasn't directed at anyone personally so I'm not sure why you're trying to make it personal.
There are definitely non-traditional candidates that get hired at large, public SV companies (e.g. FB, GOOG, UBER, etc.), some without even a degree. These guys worked hard to stand out with personal projects and countless hours of self-study and are definitely the exception to the norm, sure, but you can't even find an equivalent of that in investment banking and certainly not at hedge funds or VCs (minus EIRs).
And yes, you 100% find those willing to take a chance on startups. Why is this point just disregarded in your comment above? Give credit to the industry where credit is due.
Lastly, companies also instruct candidates to dress down in their interviewing guideline. Many will go ahead and clarify if you're ever confused and just ask. Sure, interviewers should disregard attire when judging candidates but it's not like it's out of the interviewee's control when it comes to NOT wearing that 3-piece suit.
It's like when a candidate has bad BO. Sure, you don't want to have that unconscious bias, but maybeee, just maybeee, it's also the candidate's fault.
I dress down for work because I don’t want to A) feel out of place and B) draw attention from dressing better than my boss.
My boss typically wears ratty jeans and a t-shirt (often with graphics on them). I opt for nice jeans and a plain colored shirt most days.
Much rather this than have to wear a suit everyday, but I’ve got all sorts of polos, button-downs, and nice khakis I don’t bother to wear (but have worn at previous companies that were larger and more formal).
Doesn’t bother me, but I definitely know I alter my choices to fit with group dynamics.