California people...

[solipsistnation]

Hey, so. Job interviews in California, specifically for techie/sysadmin jobs in the San Jose area... What does one wear?

Suit? No suit? Blazer and slacks? Nice button-down shirt and clean jeans? Free-trade Converse clones and Adminspotting t-shirt? Tevas and shorts? What's the style out there? My suit still fits, at least.

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

What you'd wear to a nice but casual party, i'd say. I wore a mock turtleneck, leather jacket, dress pants and dress shoes when i interviewed at for my current gig.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Hm. I think my usual dress standards are pretty far below basically everyone else's. It could be that I mostly don't go to nice but casual parties...

That gives me some idea, though. A suit would be overkill, then?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah.

[eccles.livejournal.com]

Generally the rule I have seen is to dress one notch above what everyone in that office is wearing.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

When in doubt, wear nothing at all. Let your qualifications speak for themselves.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I'd actually like a _career_, not a very exciting afternoon, but thank you for the advice.

(And yes, it could lead to a career, but not necessarily one I'd prefer.)

[booniesbill.livejournal.com]

Welder by day, Naked admin by night.

[chorus.livejournal.com]

You should be able to interview in something less dressy than a suit, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it overkill, just probably unnecessary. The one place in the SJ area where I'd consider a suit a good idea is the corporate park near the airport.

A blazer and slacks is a good compromise between business and casual for any place where you're not sure how casual they are. A nice shirt and slacks (or even good-quality dark jeans) is probably fine almost everywhere, though.

There probably are places where you could get the job in your Adminspotting shirt and a pair of shorts, but unless you know the people and the atmosphere, that's probably too downdressed for an interview.

[gunthersdncemix.livejournal.com]

You could try e-mailing Lee KA. I should have his contact info somewhere if you need it.

[pir.livejournal.com]

When I interviewed in that area I wore a shirt that was a notch or two above casual (plain grey, no collar) and smartish black trousers. Basicly somewhere between a suit and jeans/t-shirt, I'd say your nice shirt and clean jeans would be fine.

Part of my choice on that front is that anywhere that is making negative decisions about me based on if I'm not wearing a suit isn't somewhere I want to work... but I have a reasonable amount of choice in that.

[booniesbill.livejournal.com]

No suit, no tie, no jacket. A polo or button-down shirt, plus slacks/khakis/non-jeans and non-Chucks is very standard and will normally sit well with both manager types and the technical folks.

In most cases I'd call it the "wear the minimum you'd wear at a reasonably nice restaurant" level.

If you see any jobs that look interesting at the corporate mothership, let me know and I can find out more about the group/job than is posted.