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Interfaces and Facades

This time I would like to write about something that has, at the first glance, nothing to do with IT. Or does it? Isn’t our business one of the brightest examples of lack of it?

Short disclaimer: this article can be not politically correct at times and it is only for men. Sorry Ladies, you got it, so you will not find anything interesting here or at least anything that you didn’t knew already.

So to the business guys…

The way I look and present myself doesn’t matter, right?

Taking care about looks is just superficial.

I have wonderful personality (as all of you I believe) and people should judge me just by that. If it comes to looks and clothes I just wear what feels comfortable and easy.

Seriously, taking care about looks is a little bit … feminine.

Now. Sorry to disappoint you guys but reality can be a little bit cruel. Because, whatever you think about it, people do judge you by your appearance. Moreover (and I bet you will strongly deny) I am sure you do it too. Just imagine yourself in following situations:

  • You are going to meet a doctor and seeing him wearing jeans and flannel shirt instead of white lab coat.
  • You are going to a bank and are being welcomed by a lady wearing black Iron Maiden t-shirt and black leather pants.

Will you judge their professionalism by their appearance?

Now you will probably say something like: “Wait a minute. They are working in customer facing business, I don’t, so I don’t need to care about it”

Really? You don’t have any customers that you work for?

How about your Project Manager that is responsible for a funding of your bright refactoring idea? Or even one of senior Architects who is not convinced that sexy technology that you have selected is the wise choice for the solution.

We all have some customers and all of our customers have some preconceptions and expectations how professional should look like. Yes, with time they will understand that this guy X looks a little weird and sloppy but he is quite smart and reliable. But it is also possible that they will form the opinion about you based just on the first glance (we all do that initially) and you will not have second chance to prove them wrong. In any case it will be quite hard for them to discover your internal awesomeness after that.

Yes, it is just your part of your facade, but it is also your business card. It would better be clean and obvious, giving the exact message you want to convey. I am sure you don’t want it to be: “yo bro! wassup?”

Think about it also as your interface. If you are developer or architect you will probably be very angry about the moron who designed interface in the way that works but is totally not intuitive, messy and just plain ugly. Please, don’t be that guy! Give the world the interface that people would like to use and that just looks the part.

Have you noticed I was talking about looks and not just about clothes? It is not just the clothes you wear, it is also how you are wearing them, how is your haircut, what is your body language and your facial gestures (yes, smile helps) … And, before you will visit a tailor from Savile Road, it is not about going to extremes and wearing suit and tie all the time. Sometimes it may be in order but if you are just a Developer more often than not it will be an overkill and you will just look like clown. If you are Architect however and you are about to visit your customer from financial sector, it me be the only reasonable option.

IT Companies are not banks, I get it. I don’t want to prove anything otherwise. I just want you to look around your peers for a moment, think for a minute and adopt … a little bit.

Everyone else in the office wears t-shirt and jeans? Fine, you can do it too. Just make sure that your t-shirt is clean and pressed and your jeans fit your butt. However if in your office there are some guys who are wearing polo’s instead of t-shirts or maybe even regular button-down shirts then you need to think about it for a little bit longer. Are you really sending the right message in that specific group? Is it: “I am professional, I am reliable and I care about others” or “Whatever. I don’t give a f*ck”.

 Just try to be at least in the middle in terms of your clothes formality, but I will suggest to be just a one step up from average, where “One step up” does not mean add the tie or the suit. You can just wear less shouting t-shirt, darker, better tailored jeans and less sporty shoes. You will look noticeably better than the rest but will not be accused of trying too hard.

Convinced (at least a little)?

Here are few tips how to always look the part and avoid common mistakes

1.      Be clean and tidy. Always!

Wrinkled and stained clothes are absolute no-no. It says not only that you are not stylish but that you generally don’t care and also you are disrespectful to others.

2.      Fit is the King

I doesn’t matter how expensive clothes you wear, if they don’t fit you – you look bad. From my personal experience majority of men are wearing clothes that are too big. So next time you will be buying new t-shirt or jeans try one size down. If your pant legs are so long that you step on them it means that they are too long and need to be shortened. Even an expensive suit or a sport coat that is too big does not make you look stylish, it makes you look sloppy

3.      Don’t forget the shoes

They are very important part of your outfit. Regardless if those are leather dress shoes or sneakers they need to fit you and they need to be clean (see pt 1 and 2)

4.      Dress one notch above

All your colleagues are wearing light washed jeans? Wear dark wash or black/grey jeans. All the guys are wearing graphic t-shirts? Wear plain well fitted t-shirt.Everybody is wearing plain t-shirts? Wear polo or button-down shirt.You will not look overdressed, you will just be dressed noticeably … better.

5.      Don’t forget your grooming

Have clean hair and haircut. Trim your beard. Cut your nails. Wear deodorant. It is not feminine. It’s just mature and respectful.

 People who know me, know that I wear suit and tie in the office every day. Sometimes I am the only one dressed like that. Does it feel strange? Not at all. I still try not to be as far away from the average to stand out too much. Apart from that: I just like wearing suits. Everyone has this one outfit that makes him feel great. For you it can be a pair of blue jeans and a leather jacket, for me it is well-tailored suit and tie. It wasn’t always like that for me. I was that developer in graphic t-shirt walking barefoot in the office, thank God my preferences had changed over time.

I am no longer a developer, I am the manager so my peer baseline is a little bit different now. I have also realized that I am no longer a boy but a man. Last but not least I have learned the hard way that regardless if I like it or not people sometimes are forming opinions about me and my professionalism before they will even talk to me. For my own good it would better be good ones.

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