Given no other information, are you going to hire the programmer who obviously puts a lot of effort into his appearance? or the programmer who does not?
I mean, I know people who answer both ways. Some people think looking nice is a sign of respect... but others assume that if you put that much effort into your appearance you must be covering up for incompetence.
Nevertheless, how we present ourselves is inevitably influenced by what other people think of us. The amount of influence differs by situation. Though a programmer might dress in jeans and a T-shirt, he surely combs his hair.
Sure, our perceptions of appropriate dress change by the decade or so. But there's a difference between lowered expectations of what's appropriate (business casual instead of business) and no expectation. I think the later is what you're suggesting, that opinions of us are less influenced by our dress.
The former may be happening; but as others have stated, all fashion is cyclical. The later is, in the absolute sense, impossible. In the relative sense, it may sway, just like fashion, but we will always dress based on what other people will think, even if its to a lesser degree.
No, because expectations of appropriate dress vary radically by field. If you dress appropriately for a nightclub hostess job and then try to, say, get a job as a financial advisor or an enterprise software salesperson, you are likely doing yourself a disservice, even if the nightclub hostess getup is more flattering.
>Sure, our perceptions of appropriate dress change by the decade or so. But there's a difference between lowered expectations of what's appropriate (business casual instead of business) and no expectation. I think the later is what you're suggesting, that opinions of us are less influenced by our dress.
I'm suggesting that there are some situations where looking less attractive is more likely to help you obtain a positive business result.
The obvious examples are the trades, but I think there are certain, ah, stereotypes about programmers and sysadmins that also have a similar effect.
I mean, not always; but there are certain companies where a programmer showing up in a suit would be seen as almost as weird as an electrician showing up in a nice silk 3 piece.
>Though a programmer might dress in jeans and a T-shirt, he surely combs his hair.
I find this statement to be so far outside my experiences and expectations that I wonder... are you American?