[thelist] Dress for Success (was: HTML test)

Erika Meyer erika at seastorm.com
Fri Aug 25 13:32:53 CDT 2000


>Was I in a suit? Dockers and a polo shirt? jeans and tshirt?

I think that in the job search end, the jeans thing is out. (it's 
kind of 80's retro). I was just at a high tech career fair (Portland, 
OR) and it seems that dockers and a polo would be the winner for the 
20-40 year old set.

I guess it depends on who you are and where you want to be, but if 
you are, for example, a hotshot Java programmer, no one is going to 
eliminate you because you are not wearing a suit.  Or even expect you 
to wear a suit.

That's just my impression.

>Would a 20 yearold dress different from a 30 yearold? How
>about a 47 yearold?

I wouldn't touch that one with a ten foot pole.  I think you should 
dress how you feel comfortable.

>I have a better idea what to do
>with xhtml than HTML 4x.

XHTML is basically HTML4x, XML enhanced.   I'm not sure there is a 
real world where web dev is concerned.  On the front end there seems 
to be more attention to sizzle than substance.  I don't know about 
the rest.

HTML is just one skill, and it's a low end skill.  You probably have 
other skills that would be better compensated.

What you do may also relate to how you dress, but I always try to 
think of Henry David Thoreau who said something along the lines of:

"Beware of ventures that require new clothes."  (not exact quote, from memory.)

If you have to dress in a way that doesn't feel comfortable to you, 
you might wonder if the job will feel comfortable.  I've always felt 
best in jobs that allowed me to dress like myself.

Erika

erika at seastorm.com





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