Women in IT: ‘If you want to be taken seriously, dress like a man’

Quite sad...

and it's unfortunately the case in most technical jobs. The few females in our crew get some strange looks at them when they DARE wear a skirt.

at least the "change my hair colour as often as Microsoft releases security patches." part made me smile.

Boys club

Working with lots of "IT Guys" over the years I'd say that I do mistrust the "Glamourpuss" - male as well as female.

I expect the IT people to look like they're dressed to do work. And that might mean scrabbling around a badly sited server etc. So smart, but practical.

And this also applied to my own professional (not IT) team. Women or men who turned up for work looking like fashion plates always had me wondering what they were trying to say about the job.

There is nothing better than SIgourney Weaver fixing stuff in 'Alien'...

> "I traded my heels and Ann Taylor outfits for Gap khakis, button-down shirts and comfy Clarks."

GOOD!

> "I’m sure many of you reading this are wondering why I didn’t report him to HR"

That would be reaction of the whiney "but the world owes because I have vagina" feminist claptrap crowd. BAD!

IT Guys

In my experience, people in IT (sysadmins, DBAs, devs) dress very minimally and casually. They are proud of their T-shirt collection and spend much money on them. They get their hair cut when it gets too long and buy new runners only when they must.

When I wear an expensive suit into work, colleagues ask me if I'm going to an interview. Why otherwise would I be wearing a suit? I am attracting attention to myself by changing the uniform, or worse still, wearing the hated uniform of marketing or sales.

In the IT world it depends how good you are at your chosen field. And by 'good', I mean how knowledgeable you are and how good you are at solving problems. Enthusiasm helps greatly. Back in the late 90's, a colleague came in all excited because he had spent the previous few nights and mornings writing his own web browser. This sort of thing of impresses fellow IT-people.

You can wear formal business-wear all you like, but if you can impress those with whom you work, you will earn the respect of colleagues. I really don't believe that there is much of a sex-bias amongst geeks.

And finally, as for selling yourself to your bosses, guys have to do it too and many, many IT-guys are very poor at it.

It's a sad truth of the world sadly...

But it's there. I've had the occasion to work with women doing IT jobs - at one time we sat around doing the work that needed to be done from 16:00 until 01:00.

My opinions tend to be either you can do it, you want to learn or you can't do it and aren't willing to learn. If either of the first two you will have my respect irrelevant of gender and if the other two you won't. Simple as that(I don't care about the shinny).

The other thing I generally like about working with women is that unlike guys they are willing to listen to input and not just dish it out. I've met way to many guys that just try to steamroll their own opinions over everyone elses with no disregard for any arguments why it should be one way or another.

Anyway glad you have what you want and that you enjoy it.

Sexist numpty

I dont expect to win votes on this but seriously, this is an aweful article. Women suffering actual sexism I do take issue with but lets analyse the 'problems' here-

"He told me that standing out was a distraction and customers would judge me less on my looks and more on my skills if I toned down my appearance. We talked about keeping my hair pulled back and wearing more neutral attire like the rest of the guys on the team. I took his advice: I traded my heels and Ann Taylor outfits for Gap khakis, button-down shirts and comfy Clarks. I was an IT guy now; I was one of the boys."

So we have a group of people (the guys as she points out) who dress one way. Then we have someone who makes an effort to look entirely different and then complains because this is noticed. Why do you wear make-up? If you dont know then check the adverts, its to be noticed AS A WOMAN. If the guys came in painted up would they be noticed for it? Yeah duh. Why do you wear heels (not comfy and designed to make your womans body shape more prominent) instead of (in your words) comfy shoes? Or your outfits no doubt designed to show off your body traded for comfy clothes? Is it because the rest of the group is wearing them? No, because you made the trade of your flashy clothes to blend into the group you are working in.

If one of the guys dressed up in whatever showed off his 6 pack and tightly clung to his muscles while pained up and wearing platforms I am sure he would get looks and comments, and probably surprise that he can do IT.

"I made sure that I didn’t fall behind on what was going on in the industry, but being away for six months (three at the desk, three on leave), you get rusty – and the added pressure of a new baby made it worse. I was behind, and I knew it. I was competing against young men in their early 20s who could work all sorts of crazy hours. All of the “fun” projects were given to my male counterparts, and I was left maintaining the desk with a little bit of technical work to keep me content."

So you took a desk job for 3 months then 3 months off and complain that you were considered rusty? If one of the guys moved to a desk job and then took 3 months off I am sure he would be assumed a little rusty too. If he came back and found he had personal troubles which got in the way of him competing with the other staff he too would likely find himself being pushed out of the way too.

"This is where I failed and let the stereotype of IT being a man’s world carry on. I did not tell my manager that this bothered me until it was too late, and I had already started looking for a new job. I was doing what I had been taught to do since grade school: behave and sit quietly."

So you (YOU!!!!!!!!) didnt speak up. Well done. You act the stereotype of not speaking up. Congrats. Instead you went looking for a new job because people wouldnt just read your mind and do what you telepathically wanted. Really? Go away.

"As I’ve grown professionally and gained recognition from my superiors, I no longer hide behind khakis and polo shirts. I wear pretty shoes, paint my nails with glitter, and change my hair colour as often as Microsoft releases security patches."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I went to uni with a guy who changed his hair colour regularly and painted his nails. Guess how seriously he was/is taken? He prefers ripped clothing instead of pretty but the outcome is the same.

All in all a self made situation is not a real situation. Real sexism is bad. This is complaining because you want to