Re:What ya need is... (Score 1)

If done right a combination of Kenneth Cole & The Electric Chair can achieve a look close to cyberpunk while still following corporate policy. The problem here becomes the fashion police and rewrites of the corporate dress code. For example, no where in most policies does say anything about hair color and if done tastefully, blue hair could match a blue belt and shoes to go with black slacks and a high-tech modern looking dark grey sweater. The end result of any enforced dress code will successfully achieve one of two things: 1) The best sys admin or network engineer in the company simply won't return from lunch one day. 2) One of the executives will bring it up in a morning meeting, a middle manager will overreact resulting of the termination of the best sys admin or network engineer working for the company. The result will be a 20% attrition rate in the IT department in less then a month. I also find two other possiblities concerning dress appearance: 1) The more actual work one has to do, and the better one does it can be gauged by how polished one looks walking through the door. The beginning doesn't count either because anyone can iron shirts and polish shoes for a few months and stay on top of the systems and network, but once either of those cross into personal life and one finds themselves writing scripting, architecture planning, engineering spects or preparing new projects at home, then dress is out the window. 2) Sys admins and network engineers are usually so understaffed and out of time they haven't been to the grocery store in a month, let alone a department store. Environment is also relevant, for if one's employed by Morgan Stanley then conservative business attire is probably in the offer letter. On the other hand, if your working for google or apple anything more then a collared shirt would not only get one laughed at, but on a long enough time line would make peer sys admins or network engineers question one's technical ability thinking one is overcompensating for lack of skills or competing for some form of advancement. This is why realizing in the beginning of one's career what type of environment one feels comfortable working in is so important. I have also found another thing to be true, when a company is losing several hundred thousand dollars an hour due to a system or network being down I'm guessing management isn't thinking "Wow! this guy looks really good sharp, I wonder those shoes come from the actually store or Neiman Markus...Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter. Wow! that power tie is a perfect match with the wallpaper on his desktop, I can really tell this guy pays a lot of attention detail and is extremely proactive." Personally, I'll rather take 10% less salary and wear Vans to work, then spend 15% of my salary on clothes I don't need.