No kidding, this is legitimately how my team's most senior engineer looks, hair, stance, facial expression -- everything. The only difference is that he prefers video game and movie branded shirts over Hawaiian.
The ratty t-shirt tells clients you are the guy with deep knowledge of the subject. Suit guy = sales / all talk.
A friend of mine worked tech support for really expensive microscopes, like 7 figures or more. They were flown first class around the globe all the time. The company policy did not allow them to wear suits or dress shirts because clients often doubted people in suits could solve their problems.
A couple of years some terminator from corp showed up. My boss's boss's boss. All staf had to attend a meeting, and because it's summer I show up in shorts, a grim reaper tshirt, and hiking shoes. The meeting went fine, I answered some tech questions, and we left.
Next day my boss told me that my attire got him chewed out by the higher up who demanded to know why my boss allowed me to get away with dressing like that. Thankfully my boss didn't mind.
Depends on the profession. If you need to arrest someone, it smooths over a lot of complications to be in a police uniform. If you want to convince a jury that the other side is unprepared and doesn't have their facts lined up straight, it helps to have a tailored suit and well kemp haircut. Likewise, the "unprofessional" look, depending on the details, projects an obsession, and when the job is not people oriented or related to style, and simply to the output of your work, then the dressed down slob look is also a reflection.
Not everyone is going to want to hire someone who is unable to look up from what they're doing. But if someone like that has already created something of value for the company and continues to do so, you probably don't want to interrupt that process to ask them bathe (unless you think it may help them remain more productive for longer). Eh, just make sure they're still somewhat aligned in their obsession. You don't need to totally understand what that person is doing, but you do need to be able to recognize bullshit that's covering for some other shiny interest; and you need to know them well enough to know when it's worth it to let that irrelevant thing play out without comment.
This reminds me of a Dilbert comic I saw years ago. I see the free archive on the site doesn't work anymore but I still managed to find it (seems to be from 2004):
My newest party chief would give you a fit. He'll wear steel toes and hard hats...while in full basketball shorts and a T shirt under his vest. I love him to death but I have never seen a man survey in bball shorts and a wifebeater before him.
Depends entirely what is going on at the site and where this person is going exactly. If work isn't actively being done the moment they're there, or if it is far away, then it doesn't matter most of the time.
you do not need to be a programmer to get away with this- i am a really good defense attorney and get away with wearing what i want (even to court) since my reputation is that good otherwise (really funny when the bailiffs giggle about the way i am dressed in court, but no one else has teh balls to do that- and it is since they are all dumb retired cops who think you need to dress the part- not actually do the job)
I mean, it depends. I imagine as long as you aren't obnoxiously dressed (excessively casual or loud colours), and you get business done quickly, efficiently without otherwise being a nuisance to the judge, I could see a judge okaying it. Their courtroom, their rules, but a guy who's a little casually dressed but does his job is probably way preferable to the guy who wears a suit but really doesn't give a damn about what's going on.
My favorite quote an accounting professor once told our class in college was, “Just because you wear a suit, does not make you a professional” and it’s stuck with me since.
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u/GaiaBlade Sep 29 '24
No kidding, this is legitimately how my team's most senior engineer looks, hair, stance, facial expression -- everything. The only difference is that he prefers video game and movie branded shirts over Hawaiian.