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Seven Years Is Too Long

lolindrath.com

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Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#4

you lost me at wearing a suit...

Did you not get his point or you were you not convinced it was a good idea?

In all seriousness, are suits still a thing for interviews? I don't remember the last time I heard of a company that was anything more than business casual dress (and lets be honest, many firms are much more casual than that).

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#5

you lost me at wearing a suit...

Did you not get his point or you were you not convinced it was a good idea?

he said "...it will make you feel more comfortable and less out place...". in my experience, it is the opposite.

been to a few interviews where the interviewers were wearing a t-shirt, jeans and sandals.

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#6

you lost me at wearing a suit...

Wearing a suit to job interviews that you would be doing with 7 years of experience working at a defense contractor is definitely a good idea, assuming you had a favorable experience at the defense contractor and were looking for something similar.

People that did not expect you to wear a suit will be fine with it because they will understand after that long in that formal of a workplace it is reasonable that you expect yourself to wear a suit to interviews and other formal meetings. (If they don't then they would likely be a poor 'culture' fit, once again assuming you liked your previous environment)

People that did expect you to wear a suit, are much less likely to hire if you if you don't.

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#7

you lost me at wearing a suit...

Did you not get his point or you were you not convinced it was a good idea?

I get his point and it's a solid plan in most fields.

But for the tech jobs most people want, it's a really bad idea to put a suit on for a interview.

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#8

you lost me at wearing a suit...

I dress up a work, even going so far as to put on a tie some days. It has been mentioned by other engineers that they don't feel dressing up is the uniform of an engineer. But I say nuts to that, conformist. I dress up because I don't mind the look, I also like to draw a line between my private wardrobe and my professional one, it helps remind me I still work for "the man" and it drives me forward in the right direction. I say this as a counter point. I buy into the notion of wearing a suit (one that fits).

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you not get his point or you were you not convinced it was a good idea?

In all seriousness, are suits still a thing for interviews? I don't remember the last time I heard of a company that was anything more than business casual dress (and lets be honest, many firms are much more casual than that).

I'm not in industry, but in CS academia interviews seem to be the one holdout where people do usually wear suits. People attending conferences don't (except in Asia), professors don't, the department chair doesn't, the interview committee themselves probably won't either, but there's a ~70%+ chance that someone interviewing will. Or at least a sport coat and slacks (I guess not technically a suit, but close enough). You probably don't really have to, but people tend to err on that side for an interview in an unknown setting.

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#10
Wish I could stay at one company for 7 years. Or at least one city. Grass is greener and all that. I keep my cv updated even when at work, when deciding on tech to use or books to read I often think about how they will fit into my skills portfolio next time I have to job hunt. Feels really bad when I admit it. I hope I can change my luck and stick around because I'm really not a mercenary - I never started interviewing before leaving and I never treated my work like a card-punching factory job.

Way ahead of the game when it comes to wearing a suit. I've been wearing a tie all my career. And I used to work in games where it was highly inappropriate (but people there are very acceptable of all kinds of eccentricities).

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