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Comment by CarolynM | Hacker News Reader

Oh come on, programmers aren't special. (I know, I am one). Clothes are communication. You dress to a minimal standard to show respect for others, and to communicate "seriousness". Sometimes, you have to spell the standard out out. I have worked with people who wear torn or worn out t-shirts and similarly worn out shorts. It turns off some potential employees and customers who catch a glimpse of them - fair or not.

Sure, it's a little silly to insist on suits for someone crawling on the floor (I still remember in incident with a skirt, an awkward cable, and a customer tour coming in at the wrong moment). But if you work in an industry where it's the standard, how hard is it to leave a jacket and tie at work in case of meetings? Really...

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If I rightly expect to be able to manipulate you using nothing more than a cheap costume, what I'm doing merely looks like respect. Dressing down means I've decided I can take you seriously.

The responses in this thread are convincing me that a dress code is a great idea. It would keep out the socially clueless nerds nobody wants to be around.

I dress in old t-shirts and cheap jeans to keep away the people who would judge me so shallowly.

Why would someone dress in such a way to turn people away?

To keep from having to deal with their obnoxious BS.

Do you think people in thousand-dollar suits are more approachable? Personally, I do not.

I bet that's working out great for ya. Tons of advantages. I'm green with envy.

Thanks for making my point :) You're being put off by my clothing, even over the internet!

You're implying that there are only two options: strict dress code and a bunch of smelly guys wearing torn jeans/old tshirts.

>Clothes are communication.

Bingo. But what is dress code if not an attempt at killing communication?

So what do you have when you have all employees dressed in slacks and shirts and suits? Isn't it an attempt at supressing communication? An attempt at supressing individuality and instead forcing a corporate culture of obedience, brainwashing, mindless loyalty and mediocrity?

Fuck that! I will not be forced to be dressed in a suit. I might choose to wear a suit if I want to communicate obedience and professionalism. I might choose to wear a turtleneck sweater and jeans. I might choose to wear a ripped tshirt and shorts. I might choose to wear a robe or pajamas. See where I'm going with this?

You are asking for communication yet asking me to lie? You want respect? Fuck respect, fuck professionalism, and fuck all these things that make life sour, dead, and joyless.

You say respect and seriousness. Since when did respect became better than honesty and truthfulness? Since when did "seriousness" became more important that joyful curiousity, aesthetics, and playfulness? Since when banality became better than destructive creativity?

I will die, I know that. And I will not spend my short life dressed up and living like some fucking corporate schmuck wants me to because it's "professional" or "serious".

Yeah, programmers aren't special. I'm not arguing that programmers should be exceptions to dress code. I'm arguing that dress code in itself should be placed on the shelf with slavery, religion, and all those other retarded mores.

This.

An interview candidate showing up in a T-shirt is a serious black mark, not because I care about how they dress at work, but because they don't care enough about the interview to put on a shirt with buttons and a pair of dress shoes.

If somebody has that level of respect for me, the company, or the whole song-and-dance process, what are they going to be like to work with? What happens when we need them to deal with customers?

Sure, they may be an amazing coder, but a bit of politeness and some social graces make for a better working environment any day.

What I really don't get is these people who seem to WANT to look like shit. We don't have a dress code here. I could easily wear jeans over half the time. But I don't and nobody else does because it looks horrible. Personally, I find being surrounded by well dressed people a substantial workplace selling point.

Do you have any idea how juvenile and tasteless you look in cheap jeans and sneakers? Do you realize how much dramatically better you look with proper shoes and well cut wool pants? To give up that advantage just indicates idiocy to me.

> Do you have any idea how juvenile and tasteless you look in cheap jeans and sneakers? Do you realize how much dramatically better you look with proper shoes and well cut wool pants? To give up that advantage just indicates idiocy to me.

I won't deny that dressing up is a social advantage, but sometimes people care about some things more than strictly getting ahead. It's entirely possible that an individual could place more value on being comforatble than on getting that raise or promotion.

Wool? That's a dirty word here in 100 degree+ Austin, TX. Otherwise, matters of style/taste are subjective, or, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Pretty much everyone in our office wears jeans and, shrug, it just doesn't seem to have any negative impact that I can observe.

Summer weight wool is cooler than cotton.

See, that's a matter of taste. I think suits look ridiculous, and jeans look much more like clothes that real people wear, rather than a costume.

Well sure, you probably shouldn't wear literally anything you want at work, and torn or worn-out clothes are out of bounds in any semi-formal social situation anyway. So you should at least look as though you put some thought into what you wore to work and how you present yourself. Programmers might not be special, but neither is a suit and tie. A suit is not standard attire for programmers generally, and much like it would be unreasonable to demand a plumber wear one, it is unreasonable in most cases to demand an engineer wear one. Especially so when the rationale is one of those described in the article.

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