Com2Kid's Journal: Interview Attire?

How does the following sound for an interview loop that includes the lead SDET, 2 developers, the CTO, and the CEO?

• Black slacks
• Blue dress shirt
• Star Wars episode 1 tie

I am trying to avoid being too overly formal, thus the tie. Does it work, or will it just come off wrong?

(More importantly, are the CTO/CEO big Trek fans instead? :-D )

I'd say no on the tie

[sielwolf]

The problem is, how does the tie look at 12 feet, given half a second look? If it looks like a splatter of confusing color then that's a bad impression. Visually appealing design and pattern is what drives a lot of men's clothing. So if your tie is a field of little crimson Rebel Alliance insignias on a gold background? It'd look good but then give the "wink wink" to folks who knew what they were looking at.

But that's just me.

The general rule is err on being more formal than their expectations because h

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[TechnoLust]

I concur. Of course I also got a job maintaining a website for a country music singer while wearing swimming trunks, no shirt and no shoes, standing in a bar on the lake, drunk as hell. But that's more the exception than the rule.

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[Iamthefallen]

Agreed, the point of a suit is to say "Hey, look at all the effort I took in preparing for this". For the right people, a more casual non-formal look can definitely work, but do you want to gamble on that for your first interview? For the second one you can go a bit more casual imho.

Interview tip, put the suit on beforehand and get comfortable in it before the interview. Discover how the jacket rides up awkwardly, or the pants bunch up beforehand so you don't look fidgety at the interview.

Rule of Thumb....

[FortKnox]

Its tough to overdress for an interview, but easy to underdress. No on that tie, but wear fashionable tie. Honestly, if I was meeting a CEO and CTO of a reasonable size organization, I'd be wearing a suit.

The techies will be the ones that get you into the job, but the suits are the ones that will prevent you from coming. So dress up for them, but be geeky to the techs.

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[BWJones]

I gotta agree here. No on the Star Wars tie. With the CEO and CTO think about wearing a suit unless you are interviewing with S. Jobs, and even then a sport-coat and tie would be appropriate unless you know them. I once interviewed an applicant that came with a Tazmanian Devil tie........ he did not get the job and I am not what you might call a suit.

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[Com2Kid]

One thing I worry about, is that their site says, to quote:

For the interview, there's no need to wear a suit; maybe just your favorite outfit, whatever that is.

Well my favorite outfit is not, umm, work appropriate. It looks great AND has a cool geek edge to it, but also has overtly sexual overtones.

I have another tie with a computer mouse on it.

The star wars tie isn't actually that bad, it is a star background with a planet off to one side, the only thing that says "star wars" is that there is a Naboo figh

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[FortKnox]

The don't wear a tie. Wear nice slacks and a solid color, long sleeve button up shirt. White shirt with black or navy blue pants will look nice, but don't be afraid to do something like green shirt on tan pants if you've got something like that that looks good on you...

You will look like

[stevesliva]

If you are going to dress without a suit jacket--and I think this is okay--then don't wear black pants. I think that they send a "I'd be wearing a suit if I owned one" message.

And don't wear the dork tie. It can't do you any good. If they actually like Star Wars enough that they think it's cool to wear the tie, they probably wouldn't want you to wear a tie in the first place.

Don't wear a tie

[mgoyer]

No one at Redfin wears a tie. I'd really just wear what you wear to school. Jeans and a t-shirt. Chances are that's what everyone on your interview loop will be wearing. Though maybe Glenn (the CEO) will have slacks on.