Thursday, December 6, 2007

No dev at Microsoft looks like this

By now, you've all seen The Programmer's Dress Code.

No (or very few) devs look like this at Microsoft, for some reason. It is not that we hire people on looks. We need everybody - dev, test and PM - to be good communicators. And, probably, if you have zero dress sense (or bizarre facial hair), you won't be too good at the communicating part.

But I'd like to think we have developers as good as Bjarne and the others. Some of our dev architects certainly think they are.

2 comments:

Soma said...

"A person should entirelly be assesed by [his] behavior"

I agree, but sadly, this is not how the world works.

If you dress very differently from most people, I would guess that you would have to demonstrate some pretty good (technical and communication) skills to impress a skeptical hiring manager. That goes for Microsoft, and any other company.

That said, once you are hired, you can pretty much do whatever you like: I've had coworkers who (every day) dressed in Michael Jackson outfits, biplane-piloting garb, post-oil-chance tees and jeans, VERY low-cut shirts, etc.

Dress up for the interview, wear whatever you like afterwards. But keep in mind that you will have to battle people's preconceived notions if you go out on a limb too much.

Amarah said...

A second part was posted and Bill Gates made it to the list... :) :)


oh well never mind, he doesn't work at Microsoft anymore.