What should a man wear to tech job interviews in Seattle?

June 7, 2013 12:09 AM

People appear to agree that in Silicon Valley, men should not wear a suit to software job interviews (and do khakis / button down shirt instead), and that on the East Coast a suit is still appropriate. What about Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond? Will a suit prevent me from getting the job?

I don't have a specific company in mind, I'm just trying to ascertain if I need to go shopping for chinos and brown leather shoes, or the suit I already have is OK.

posted by splitpeasoup to Technology (18 answers total)

Believe it or not, this is the kind of question you can (and probably should) ask the HR recruiter before coming in for the interview.
posted by empath at 12:13 AM on June 7, 2013 [8 favorites]

The reason I say that, is because it really depends on the company and industry. I just got a job at an east coast tech company in suit-friendly washington DC, but if I had shown up in a suit, I would have looked incredibly out of place and probably wouldn't have gotten the job. Even in the same industry, you can't really say -- I got laid off from a very casual-dress VOIP company, and interviewed with another voip company literally blocks down the street and everyone was wearing suits when I showed up (and I didn't get the job at least partially because I dressed too casually).
posted by empath at 12:21 AM on June 7, 2013

I don't think dress is as big a deal as you think. I like empath's idea of asking the recruiter. I think it's better to spend your effort researching the interview process. Also, I don't think khakis are either stylish or dressy. Either get dress pants or go in your nicest casual clothes.
posted by esprit de l'escalier at 12:25 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

I've worked in the software industry in Seattle for ten years and been on dozens of interview loops. I don't think I have ever seen a programmer wear a suit to an interview. Anything from jeans and tee-shirt to slacks and button-down (and maybe a blazer) is fairly normal. I doubt a suit would cost you a job, but it might be remarked upon (most likely as a minor amusing note in the debrief). It would be a bit less remarkable if you were either new to the industry, or very senior with some leadership experience.
posted by mbrubeck at 12:36 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've stopped making assumptions about this, and simply tell whoever's setting up the interview that I've encountered varying dress codes and would appreciate any suggestions they have about what's appropriate for an interview at their office.

Usually they respond with either "dress up, but you don't need a tie" or "decent shirt and jeans is fine."

Occasionally they're annoyingly vague ("dress nicely and professionally"). In the later case I've gone with slacks and a dress shirt, which seems to have been effective and I suspect would cover most cases for tech roles.
posted by weston at 12:42 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

I aim to look sharp, but try to manage that using the kind of casual clothes that work for me.
I've seen people in the Seattle area interview in suits. I'm pretty sure it was never held against anyone, but they stick out as interviewees, perhaps even with a hint of n00b. I think part of this was that they didn't appear to be used to wearing a suit, so it's not really them, and it shows. Whatever you wear, I'm of the opinion that you should be able to rock it without trying, without thinking. That usually means something derived from your usual nice-casual, but smartened up. I've never done chinos or brown shoes, but they're perfectly appropriate.

Exceptions may be necessary if you are someone who would go out on a date in pizza-stained pajamas. :-)
posted by anonymisc at 1:34 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

For software companies, you can think of the entire West Coast (including Canada) as one big, integrated job market. Software guys are travelling up and down the coast all the time when they visit customers, switch jobs, etc. The dress code, indeed the general working culture, in the Seattle is very similar to San Francisco, Vancouver, Portland etc. The main differences you'll see are due to climate -- i.e. putting on a rain jacket when you go outside, short vs. long sleeves, etc.
posted by wutangclan at 2:06 AM on June 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

If you're good and interview well, it doesn't matter what you wear. You can look too uptight in casual clothes and relaxed in a suit.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:43 AM on June 7, 2013

Not in Boston, but I interview lots of software developers. What they're wearing makes nearly no difference -- the warmup question I ask is much more important to the interview. If you're interviewing at good companies, it won't matter at all.
posted by katrielalex at 4:44 AM on June 7, 2013

I followed jph's excellent advice when I was out interviewing last year, and went ahead and wore a suit. I did feel a bit silly, especially when talking to one of the senior developers, who was wearing a faded t-shirt, shorts, and Vibram 5-fingers, but I did end up getting the job.
posted by penguinicity at 4:45 AM on June 7, 2013

I work in tech in Seattle; I have actually worked on the same block in the city for 8ish years, at two different companies. One I was required to wear business professional (men in ties at least and most wore suits, including devs). The other is standard west-coast tech casual - polos are about as nice as it gets. I will say that about 5-6 years ago, it seemed even MORE casual was the standard - like there was a type of general competition for the most 'start up-like' environment, which usually translated to shorts and sandals, ping pong tables, free drinks etc, and that seemed to coincide with a common attitude that sort of looked down on a more formal/business dressing folks. I don't really see as much of that anymore - it feels more like Amazon is the model, not Facebook, if that makes sense.

Most places I've interviewed at here care more about your skills than docking you for an overly-formal presentation. The places that have a dress code which is part of their culture will tell you before they bring you in for an interview. The HR contact at the 'business professional' place I worked at had a very polished mini-speech for new hire prospects telling them what to expect in terms of the dress code at their interview, so if it's important to the company they will tell you up font. If not they'll say something noncommital like 'nice, but not fancy. Something that makes you feel good when you interview!', and chinos are fine.

(My personal opinion is that suits are too much here unless the company does business professional daily. Some nice, well-fitting dark jeans or slacks and a good button down shirt with a tie if you're feeling fancy are better. And good shoes.)
posted by par court at 5:36 AM on June 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

I always ask... because, who knows? That said, if you step into my office wearing a suit, you're going to look like you just landed your spaceship outside and wandered into our office to make contact.
posted by ph00dz at 6:44 AM on June 7, 2013

I've recently seen HR actually give dress tips in the meeting invites. You should ask them.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:53 AM on June 7, 2013

nthing, ask.

But here is an anecdote. I came from The Phone Company, which was suits, heels and hose. We'd go out to customers and they'd all quip, "The FBI's here!" (I'm kind of tired of the joke to be honest.)

So when looking for a new gig, I'd always have to ask, then cobble together something that looked like I was trying to impress without being hopelessly over-dressed. Not as easy as you'd think.

For my current job, the company started as a start-up and merged and is now associated with banking. So you'll see everything from suits, to shorts and flip-flops. I interviewed in a cute short sleeved pant suit. I was more dressed up than the interviewer (my now boss) but not so hidiously over-dressed that I looked out of place.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:13 AM on June 7, 2013

I just have to post for posterity that if "tech jobs" means engineering roles at tech firms, suits are not appropriate on the East coast either.

When it comes down to it a good company is not going to ding you for overdressing to such an extent that it will make or break your interview, but I've seen overdressing make a candidate so flustered that they sabotaged themselves.
posted by telegraph at 9:33 AM on June 7, 2013

Ask. In general, things that show you pay attention to small details are going to reflect favorably on you as an interviewee. On the other hand, wearing a suit to a place where suits are multiple standard-deviations from the mean may alsocreate the impression that you aren't going to be a good fit.
posted by Good Brain at 10:44 AM on June 7, 2013

Software engineer in Seattle here, since the dot-com bubble era. In that time I've worked for seven different companies, from startups to the very largest companies in the industry; I've worked downtown and on the eastside, and I've been part of more interview loops than I can remember. When I was doing those interviews, a suit would not have prevented you from getting the job, but it would have made me wonder why you were dressing in that unusual way. Have you ever actually worked in the software industry before? Are you really nervous, dressed up because you are trying too hard to make a good impression? Do you actually understand the industry you are trying to work in? These are the questions I would be trying to answer.

I can't think of a single occasion where someone showed up to an interview wearing a proper suit. Button-up shirts, yes, jackets, yes, sometimes even button-up shirt and jacket at the same time, though usually paired with jeans to dress it down a bit. The most formal it ever gets is a pair of slacks, jacket, and button-up shirt all at once, though not as a suit (slacks & jacket don't match). Can't remember a single tie, ever. - oh no wait! There was one guy one time! But he was applying for an electrical engineer position, not software, and he was my dad's age, and looked like an old school serious engineer type, and I don't think we hired him.

On the other hand, most software companies have their contingent of weird people who dress in some distinctive way. Pink hair, mohawk, kilt & fedora, biker jacket, whatever. I was the resident goth a couple of times. If you were wearing a suit and totally rocking it and it was obvious that you were wearing it because it was a statement of your personal style and it made you feel good, then I would understand that and find that appealing, even if I did think you were sort of weird for picking that particular fashion statement.

If you're wearing a suit because you think it's the corporate uniform and you want to fit in, well, it's the wrong uniform and it will make you stand out. If you have a good reason to want to stand out in that particular way, then go for it; but if you don't already know what that reason is, wearing a suit is probably a mistake.
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:49 AM on June 7, 2013 [3 favorites]

Yeah, ask the recruiter. But make it an open-ended question, like "what would people ordinarily wear to interview at that company?" followed by "so would X be okay?" to make sure you're interpreting their answer right. If you say something like "is a suit okay" the recruiter will probably say yes, but that doesn't mean a suit is ideal.

What I mostly see for male software engineers in the Bay Area is casual pants, a button-down, maybe with a t-shirt underneath, and pretty much any kind of shoes. Any casual shoe is okay, but if you have non-sneakers, I'd wear them, and maybe buy them if you don't have them, just to be on the safe side. Any dark leather shoe is fine. Any jacket is okay and any bag. I'd avoid jeans just to be safe, although they are almost certainly okay too.

I've interviewed about 200 engineer candidates, and I've only seen a suit two or three times. It does attract attention, and usually marks you as either old (which is okay and gets chalked up to eccentricity) or very young (which can be okay but sometimes reads as trying too hard or painfully naive). We didn't rule out people in suits and it was never a determinative factor in the process, but it was also never a positive.

Generally, dress to make yourself feel comfortable, so you can forget about what you're wearing. Whatever you wear, wear it elsewhere first, before the interview. That way you'll know if e.g. the shoes pinch or the shirt shows sweat, and you can adjust as necessary before the interview.
posted by Susan PG at 1:52 PM on June 7, 2013