dreadlocks...programming job...?

Image is everything.

Technically, you shouldn''t. There''s laws against discriminating on the basis of appearance, but that won''t stop an employer thinking of another reason to not hire you...

P.S. This is a little off topic, but I have a question about dreadlocks... how do you take care of your hair? I mean, can you still wash it and stuff, or does it all come apart if you do? And how long does it take to get them done? I''m not thinking of getting them myself, just curious

---

War Worlds - A 3D Real-Time Strategy game in development.

Most software companies don''t give a damn what you look like if you''re doing in-house development. There''s a guy a couple doors down from me with a blue and green mohawk. The project lead on a project I was working on a couple of years ago was fat, loud, and notorious for wearing really ugly shorts. He was a really good designer and programmer though and that''s what counted.

However, if you''re going to be directly interacting with customers regularly they probably want you to look spiffy. It depends on what you''re doing also. Game developers are supposed to look a little out there. If you''re working for an insurance company then traditional business atire is probably expected.

-Mike

I don''t know about you guys, but there is no way in hell i''d ever sit at a computer wearing a suit, properly burshed hair, and clean shaven. Myself, I usually wear kaky (how the hell do u spell that) pants, but unzipped at the knees as shorts, a t-shirt, and a hawiian style bright summerish un-buttoned shirt, and sandles. and a spiffy red visor. and i''ll be damned if i ever shave every day for a week.

So in short... Most employers these days (younger ones), don''t really care about your appearence too much, assuming your not working directly with customers. Currently, I work as a Computer Tech for a school board, and I dress as i exhaustedly explained above. And they could care less.

Scott

Email
Website

"If you try and don''t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."

hmmm, well the anonymouse poster is me (dirkduck) maybe i had a typo in my pass. thanks!

Attire, like attitude, scheduling, and everything else as far as "workplace guidelines" fall under two distinct interdependencies:

1: The closer you are to the (people with) money, be it physically, operationally, or otherwise, the stiffer you are expected to appear.

2: The Golden Rule: He that has the Gold, makes the Rules. The Man with the Green is gonna tell you up from down, maybe even argue that IPX is better than TCP, and he usually prefers to not be disproven.

-----------
-WarMage
...let''s just say that for every earring I''ve taken out, my salary has increased by about USD1500 per year.

Any one who tells you you have to look a certain way to be a software developer is probably an uptight poser. It to hard to find talented software developers and the people who think designing software is about wearing a tie and siting a desk don''t really know what their talking about.

Personally i''ve been working as a software developer for the past 7 months and my bright blue hair has never been an issue. I also plan on getting dreadlocks pretty soon by the way.

From my (fairly limited) experience, pure software companies don''t mind too much about image. If, OTOH, you''re looking for a job developing software for a bank, say, then I''m afraid the dreads might have to go.

*laughs hysterically and digs through bookmark list*

Wait a min, wait a min...... ah! Here we go. Knew I had it somewhere....

Do Companies Care About Appearances?

At first I though it maybe was the same thread - I''m surprised I remembered I had it. There''s a bit about dreds in there too.



==============================
"Need more eeenput..."
- #5, "Short Circuit"
==============================

I''d wear a suit and tie even if it wasn''t required. Not sure why.

I work at Elixir, theres one guy here with some purple/green hair and they obviously don''t care about the way you look. To be honest, if the company is going to make you dress a certain way, just leave. go work in a bank for double the pay. The whole point of working in Gamedev is so you can have green hair, listen to metallica while you code and play Quake3 after work.

http://www.positech.co.uk

What''s metallica? Are you trying to be hard?

Metalica is a music band. They have some popularity in the states.

I wouldn''t worry about the dreadlocks.


Mike

Metallica is a band mostly known for being favored by people who work in a bank. And for being money-greeding and sueing Napster.

Really. What is it about dreads? I don''t think they look that kool on black people, and I''ve never seen a white person that they look good on. What''s the appeal?

Metallica/Lars Ulrich rock.. except the Napster thing.

// Chimaera

well, my hair is usually some random mixture of colors, and i usually dress very badly at interviews, and i had job offers from several companies. But here is an important thing: YOU should mention your hair. If you''re at a job interview, say something like, "So, is my hair going to be a problem? I understand if it is." Because at one interview i had, i asked, and the guy was like "I''m really glad you asked, because legally, i''m not allowed to mention it, as it''s discrimination, but i would still be able to not hire you solely because i didn''t like your hair and no one would be the wiser." Not so sure if that''s true, but people interviewing you are generally afraid to mention your looks because of thigns like that. So if you ask them, they''ll usually say "No, it''s fine" or "Yes, it is a problem, but if you take all that metal out of your face and dye your hair brown, we would be glad to hire you." Whereas if you don''t mention it, they will probably just not hire you. In general though, any company where you''re just a programmer shouldn''t care (the guy at microsoft who interview me had blue hair), but jobs where you would be a consultant and have to meet with clients would want you to have nice hair and a tie. Also, don''t bother going to the CIA at the job fair while wearing a hammer and sickle patch on your backpack. They will throw your resume in the garbage and give you mean looks when you take a lot of free pens.