I know this is a very sensitive subject. And I did not want to hear anything related until I got 30. But trust me, how you dress in the office does make a difference.
I’ve seen many different things in my career. In game companies, people might walk around the office barefoot. When I was at a bank my supervisor did not wear shoes either. Fortunately, he had socks on though. A “normal” employee in IT wore a suit every single day although he didn’t have to. Eventually, he was elected to the works council and everybody respected him.
It’s definitely not necessary to wear a suit as a software developer every single day. John Sonmez recommends wearing two levels higher than your current position. That’s a bit too much in my opinion, especially when you’re in a small startup where two levels up might be the head of the company who maybe does indeed wear a suit every day.
Nevertheless, there are two main reasons why you should care about how you dress in the morning.
First: Your coworkers. Do you want to see them all running around barefoot? Do you even want to see sandals? At least wear your sneakers with a pair of jeans (or shorts if it’s too hot) and a t-shirt. Which brings me to another subject, I’d like to touch on briefly: Hygiene. Have your shower in the morning or at least in the night before, do your hair and apply some deodorant. Pleasant clothing goes hand in hand with good hygiene. Wearing sandals barefoot during the hot summer months can lead to smells nobody wants to experience in the office. Believe me, your coworkers might never talk about it, but they do notice.
A guy from marketing (I know, they are evil, but still…) tells me this every now and then and although this is not very nice behavior, unfortunately, I have to admit he is right. And it means he’s not the only one who notices that. Please people, let’s erase the stereotype of the dirty and smelly developer once and for all.
Second: Respect. People will treat you differently when you wear a shirt or have a well-groomed appearance. I know that the rebel in you does not like that fact at all, but this is the absolute truth. I also love my Zelda t-shirt and of course, it’s great when coworkers recognize it for the first time, but the excitement for a t-shirt only lasts a few seconds. The respect for a person that dresses quite nicely and also knows how to write software, in turn, lasts a lot longer and it may lead to new opportunities – if you want new opportunities.
But if you don’t care about all that, then don’t do it. There’s nothing wrong with being true to yourself and keep coding for the rest of your life. Don’t get me wrong. I also want to code all day long. It’s the part of my job I enjoy the most. But I also like to be seen as a professional software developer that also knows how to dress and has some well developed social skills. You can be the exception to the rule, and this feels pretty good. Also, you’re getting used to this kind of clothes which comes in quite handy in other situations of your life as well.
This post was originally published on programmergoals.com and is part of the series 5 Software Developer's Career Hacks.
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Top comments (13)
I remember starting work at a job. Everyone treated me distantly. Looking back, I attribute it to the difference in dress. The first week I was wearing khakis and button-ups, not even to the level of a suit. They were all wearing more-or-less comfortable clothes (jeans, t-shirts, etc.) My guess is to them it seemed that I was a career-minded jerk, not a team player. It turned around after I started dressing more comfortably.
Nowadays, I constantly wear jeans and t-shirts or polos. I'm not trying to impress people. The kind of job where you have to fool people into thinking your someone important enough to listen to by the way you dress is not the kind I want anyway. I will admit to sometimes feeling under-dressed for client visits. If I know about it ahead of time, I will at least make sure to wear a polo that day instead of a t-shirt.
As a matter of common decency, there is no excuse for smelling badly.
Totally agree! In my first developer job (it was a start up) I went to the office better dressed than my boss/ceo. Eventualy, some clients showed up unexpectedly and he told me to speak with them as I looked more professional than him, which led to some bonuses. Don't underestimate the power of dressing nicely!
Thank you very much for sharing your story. :)
I understand the thinking behind "dress to impress", but personally, I prefer the idea that we can value people's contribution to the workplace in the same way as we can value their contribution to websites like this one.
That is to say, by focusing on the things that matter - The very best posts on Dev.to could have been written by someone who looked like they were on their way to a wedding, or they could've been written by someone who was lying naked in a bathtub, and in neither scenario would the content of their post be better or worse.
Professionalism is not, after all, a "look". That said, people do (for reasons I personally can not fathom) seem to think it is, but I tend to think of that as the problem here, myself.
As everyone's (most recent) favourite fictional dwarf once said, "It's easy to confuse what is with what ought to be, especially when what is has worked out in your favour". In your post, you say that a developer who wore a suit to work every day, even though he didn't have to, was respected by everyone. Would he have garnered that same respect if he was severely overweight, and couldn't buy a suit to fit him, but still produced the exact same output? If the answer is "no", then to be honest, that only further convinces me of the problems with the "everyone" in question than it does about the benefits of wearing a suit to work for no reason.
Maybe the next time we see someone wearing a suit, we can ask ourselves how much better that suit is actually making them at their job, rather than unhelpfully tying value to appearance. :)
My biggest sartorial struggle is not to either dress like an "old guy" (well, because I am an old guy) or trying to look like I'm younger and not pulling it off.
I'm just glad ties in the office are a very rare thing these days.
Well, maybe you can replace "old" by "experienced"? In my opinion - although I know it sounds cheesy - you are or look as old as you feel.
And the thing about ties... I have to admit that I kinda like wearing ties lately. I don't wear them in the office, but there have been some occasions lately where I tried them and somehow they made me feel mentally stronger. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's just the feeling of looking stylish?
The granddad look just kind of creeps up on you. It's scary how it happens. One day you're wearing skinny jeans and a cool t-shirt and the next you're wearing comfortable 'Sansbelt' slacks and a sweater vest.
I will say that losing 80 pounds in the past year has help me dress better (and feel better).
I think this very much depends on the industry. I work at a digital agency, and if you over-dress, you'd be making yourself a little less approachable. Neat chinos and a shirt with rolled up sleeves is the sweet spot, IMO.
Chinos with a shirt are just great! :D
A part of being well-groomed which I'm sure you implied but didn't explicitly state, and is often forgotten (especially by guys) is hairstyle. Paying money for a decent haircut and a little hair product goes a long way in looking professional.
Absolutely! Thanks for stating that. :)
Also making an effort and taking care of your looks improves self-respect. Besides it's an outlet for creativity [and I don't mean freakishness but developing good taste, matching this and that, thinking of how to bring out the best in your looks].
I think the fact that an abstract colleague either smells or is not successful in IT career doesn't depend on an ability to dress.
It's a quite controversial article and while I'd been reading it, I wanted to argue about few ideas... But, then you mentioned this -
"to be seen as a professional software developer that also knows how to dress and has some well developed social skills". I totally agree the way we dress is just another skill. Nothing related to IT skills. A company or a job title may require some certain dress code. But, I wouldn't agree that gaining professional skills or developing an IT career is 100% related to changes in your clothes.
I'm quite sure, if someone smells, then it's caused by toxins in the body and it needs to be cleaned by changing a diet, doing exercises, changing a lifestyle. The one wouldn't stop smelling by changing clothes ;) And the one won't become an IT expert by wearing suits every day. It may only lead to one of the manager's job positions if it requires a special dress code in some particular company.
I'm quite pragmatic here. I wear only functional and comfortable clothes. It saves me from wind and rain. I rarely think about a weather outside in a wide range of temperatures. It just works. I hope, I'd never think about clothes in the context of my career or a social status.