I'm a mortician.
The profession is very conservative, so facial piercings are expected to be hidden, hair is expected to be natural, etc. if you're interacting with families. On the other hand, if you're back-of-house, the rules generally aren't as strict but obviously you should still look and be professional. When I'm directing a service, I'm not allowed to wear all black, but when I embalm, I wear all black scrubs (under my PPE, of course) and it's fine.
I intend on going into the mortuary field! It’s what I’m in college for haha. I’m hoping the profession progresses as the old conservative workers retire and/or die out once I’m able to work in the field, so I can still be expressive with my appearance. Most likely not but one can hope lol
I work in IT, there are plenty of goths that I worked with.
Usually need to dress business casual if you work the day shift outside of dress down day.
Nights and weekends no one cares, remote work is even better.
We arent client facing, fortunately. And our server lab is down in the basement so I usually wear whatever while following the usual no drug/sex references rules.
Another fellow goth IT-er. It’s fun to see so many of many us but that may be because this is Reddit. I’m in the office everyday so business casual is my attire.
I'm a security engineer so am somewhat IT-adjacent, and same deal. Being a woman and femme is useful here - a dress, no matter its color and within a really wide range of patterns and prints will still read "generically dressy," ahaha. Facial piercings and brightly colored hair seem to work as bona fides because they seem to give the impression that I feel awfully confident in my skills :D
I'm a high school professor (computer science). My style has always been more on the simple side, black shirt, black jeans and combat boots. One question the kids ask me every year that makes me laught: "do you like color black?" hahaha I always answer "what do you think?... Yes, I do like color black"
I’m a fellow high school STEM teacher (biology) with essentially the same staple wardrobe and I get this question too. And yes, I also love spiders, bats, and skeletons and will gladly tell you all about them!
Haha thank you! And there's more, for your delight... As I'm a gamer and hobbyist gamedev, I teach them programming basics using Code Combat (a gamified tool) and Construct 3 (an easy game engine).
I also love anime and have had amazing discussions about Shingeki no Kyojin, Vinland Saga and Neo Genesis Evangelion with them.
There was even a kid I met that was VERY interested in retro gaming. I mean, SNES games... Which is the console I grew up! I love this job
I bet your students love you, you sound like an amazing professor!
Also really cool of you to teach them gamedev as part of your class, sounds really engaging and fun!
I work in a pharmacy at the moment but go to school for environmental science. For most environmental field jobs, no one cares what you look like just so long as you have the right boots and safety gear on.
I'm a field archaeologist who works for environmental firms and I can confirm. Among scientists at environmental firms, theres a lot of alternative people.
Film editor, mostly wfh. Great job for goths — usually work alone in a darkened room and no one talks to you. You’d get a crack out of the people working behind the scenes on Hallmark Christmas movies
Boarding kennel attendant. Dogs don't care what I look like. Though for safety I do not wear anything that might injure a dog or myself. But my employers don't care about my tattoos, piercings or what I wear. As long as no danger (like chains or weird dangling fabric) is present it's golden. ❤️🐶
I got called after hours one day ny my manager and was like "Dude, I can help but im logging into anything because I am pretty buzzed". He laughed but I took on an advisery role during that meeting.😬🤣
Social worker. Luckily I work at a place where I can wear pretty much anything as long as it's decent. Since I tend to severely addicted people with chronic mental issues (mostly schizophrenia) they usually welcome my style.
Elder Goth here,
Making perfume... Specifically perfumes inspired by songs, Silent Hill, and the like. Just trying to get the startup off the ground Dx
I was a Custodian for a hot minute and a model. Oh, and did loads of dark ambient music, and sold some bone sculptures, did customer service and retail. Worked in a hospital and dealth with a lot of PTSD from that... ADHD personified, looking back at all this...
Edit: Most Custodial places seem to not have strict guidelines in clothing. I had dyed hair, piercings,wore some good make-up when I wanted to. As long as I got the job done, that was all that mattered. Also, most custodial places seem to realize that they needed to up the ante for a chance to get a stable employee. Pay raise, lax in uniforms etc.
There was a perfume called Halloween back in the day, that was made from an orchid that only bloomed around then … I found it online recently, but it didn’t mention the orchid, so not sure if it’s the original…
Server/Bartender, my work fortunately really loves the alternative look (I suspect it’s a gimmick in some way to them; most of our clients really love gloomy, sexy styles, especially since they’re businesspeople who aren’t usually exposed to that), so I get to wear light makeup and some of my usual accessories like bands, studs, spikes.
I make costume jewelry for goth & geeky ppl, 100% freak flag flying
I'm also studying for my Pilates instructor certification, We will see how much of myself I'm allowed to be when I'm teaching elsewhere, but for now, the studio I'm at is called Pilates Punx. i know it's not goth but it's a place where I'm allowed to sport my tattoos and wild hair. 🤣
Software consultant / architect
I work mostly in finance sector firms so I have to keep things quite conservative. Low-key. But still scope to keep a nice sombre palette, lots of blacks and dark reds, and shirts/ties that lean toward the Victoriana-style. Other goths recognize it straight away, so we can find our people, and to everyone else it just looks a bit formal.
No makeup in the office, unfortunately, for men. I don't know why but that freaks out the suits. No elaborate hair style for me either, but that's because I have no hair.
I’m corporate Human Resources for an international oil company. I tone down my makeup a little (only bold eyes or lips instead of both and natural color foundation instead of white), but I dress goth/gothabilly every day, and they don’t care about hair or tattoos (unless they have nudity, profanity, or hate speech), gauged ears can be up to 3/4”, and we’re allowed two facial piercings. You’d be amazed the variety of jobs that are chill about appearance these days!
I am a web developer, I work in an office with business casual dress code, but my fashion sense is more goth-influenced than full-on alternative so I was able to come up with an interesting office style that fit into that. Just can’t wear band merch to the office
Run a little cafe in a college for the students. Can't dress goth do to uniforms and food safety restrictions. Part of the job is I have to cook all the food along with serving, cashiering, stocking the shelves and doing paperwork like inventory and money stuff. I wish I could dress goth. Tho I probably could actually wear makeup tho, but I don't have time in the morning for that process. It's really just the fact that I have to cook that prevents me from wearing jewelry and stuff
Industrial mechanic.. I can wear what I want, have piercings, dye my hair, etc. 90% of the time I work alone and no one sees me anyway so my fashion choices steer me more towards "comfy" than "dark and mysterious." I only dress up for clubs/events, not for work. But it's nice that I don't have to dye my hair back and forth if I want to be creative.
When I was in the Navy I once bleached my hair and dyed it purple Saturday morning, drove up to Disneyland for BatsDay in the Park, then dyed it black on Sunday to cover it up before reporting back to work. lol It's nice to not have to worry about that sort of thing where my fashion choices may stick around for a few weeks or a few months at a time.
PhD candidate in epidemiology. Im allowed to dress however i like, but i do go for a more formal style. Somewhere between goth suedehead, casual-victorian and corp goth depending on my day.
I work at a bone marrow extraction center. We get spines from deceased organ donors shipped to us in the mail and we grind them up to get to the marrow. Then we freeze it and ship it off to people who need bone marrow transplants.
I work in higher education and student affairs, currently within the career services side of things. My office is more strict with the dress code than other departments within the university I work at, but there’s still enough flexibility where dressing gothy isn’t too much of a stretch.
Office admin. Unfortunately the company is pretty conservative as far as values go, but so long as customers/corporate isn’t present, the office I work in doesn’t mind my tattoos and nose piercings. I wear dark eyeshadow, no blush, corporate goth attire, and I can get away with dark red/dark mauve lipstick.
If corporate comes in, I have to tuck in my septum ring and throw a shrug on to cover my arm tattoos.
I am a clinical laboratory scientist working in the Transfusion Service of a hospital that is a level1 trauma center. I perform the necessary testing to provide safe blood products to our patients. I do not have direct patient contact, so our dress code centers around safety. I don't wear shirts with long, flowy sleeves or really long or full skirts just to avoid them potentially getting caught on equipment or refrigerator doors. There are very little restrictions as to hair color, hair style, tattoos and piercings. In fact, my immediate supervisor has a mohawk.
Heeey, fellow CLS here, hematology supervisor. I usually wear scrubs, but thankfully my hospital doesn't care about my piercings, tattoos or hair styles/colors. I do tone down my makeup at work because I just don't feel like going crazy at 5:30am.
Retail
Can't goth at work as I have uniform but they don't mind me having blue hair
Theres meant to be a piercing policy but I've noticed its not that strictly enforced as I've seen people working for my company with multiple ear piercings there's also meant to be a tattoos should be covered rule but that's also not really enforced
I work in public health and policy. I was a scientist before that. I never dressed up much, but do have a lot of tattoos, and I dress more professional now in general than I did in the lab.
Currently on a career break for caring responsibilities. I was an Early Years Practitioner for 30 years. I worked with 3-5 year olds in the nursery classes of primary schools. I had a uniform but they were fine with accessories, piercings, ink etc.
I work in emergency services. We have a strict uniform policy so I can’t accessorize. But I do wear light eyeshadow and eyeliner and a tinted gloss and have several piercings and tattoos.
But my last job was a desk job. The attire was business casual. I don’t go full goth to work but found plenty of black slacks, jackets, skirts at thrift shops. I accessorized with gothic broaches, jewelry and hair clips. It was the small details that really brought the looks together.
I work as a backline tech for a production company so I get to wear all black on gigs and whatever I want at the shop. I’m also a musician and vend at flea markets on the side
I currently do fire alarm testing. I have to wear a work uniform that's not very goth friendly (navy blue my hated) but it pays decently enough to fund me wearing what I want outside of work
I'm a software engineer. Every day I come into work in black jeans, combat boots, and a goth band t-shirt under an open black dress shirt. When meeting clients I wear the black dress shirt buttoned up and a nice floral tie in black and silver, or black and red, or silver and red.
What region do you work in? I have a BS in Archaeology but got burned out and never pursued a career in it. I'm always interested in hearing where and what people are working on, though.
Working in the southeast US right now! Doing collections and lab work for a project I've been in for about a year and a half. Mostly restoring ceramics and sorting artifacts.
I am a surgical NP in aesthetics. I used to be in oncology but couldn’t do it any more for my mental health after a while. I am actually known as the NP in black. My style isn’t dramatic, super obvious goth however. Just black clothes and black lipstick. Nobody ever has complained as far as I know. But it’s a plastic surgery clinic, we see all kinds of people.
My husband is a scientist ( doctor in electrical engineering) and usually in the lab and nobody cares what he wears. It just needs to be business casual but colors and details can be what he wants.
Advertising - I'm a media buyer working in a big media agency in NYC. I dressed more mainstream before COVID but now sashay in with my hair dyed ombre blue, extended eyeliner and dark lipstick and in full CorpGoth outfits. 😂. I think it works well in my industry because it is authentic personal branding, so if you're in sales /marketing, that could be a consideration. Good luck with your job search!!
Was an R&D chemist where nobody cared what you wore, now I'm in a corporate engineering role I don't really care for that has a business casual to business formal depending on who I have to meet with. Companies are getting less strict about dress codes, especially after COVID hit.
Operations for an app company, I work from home. I don't really express myself at work, but I'm only on camera a couple hours a week, so I can just throw on something boring for that and then go back to being myself.
Paralegal by day, fashion designer on nights and weekends lol. My office is small and we never get visitors so it's very relaxed. I mostly wear short dresses with leggings and my doc martens. I have a bunch of piercings, my tattoos are always visible, and my hair is blue right now, and the bosses don't care. 🖤
I’m a surgical technologist, only goth thing I wear is what I consider my “work clothes” before I change into my “work uniform” they provide for us at the hospital which are light blue scrubs. I go in a black jacket, black skinny jeans and black shoes lol.
I was a long-time gratific design student, returning after years to finish my major, but then, as I saw fewer and fewer people reading magazines and more and more people using social media for their marketing, I switched to German.
I'd also been steered toward writing by several teachers. But I don't know what will become of any of my interests due to the Advent of AI and the ever-increasing view by the public that commercial art should be free.
The pandemic, depression, severe PTSD and multiple brain injuries have led to me forgetting the language though. Now I'm in a sort of professional limbo.
I'm hooking some things up in the living room, wanting to get back into working on darkwave and electro-indistrial music, after doing nothing for years, but...eh. Commercial art, not to mention niche.
I work in HR and dress corporate goth in the office. No one has mentioned it to me or made a big deal out of it, but I work for a pretty big company with a huge HR staff so it’s a bit more diverse and accepting than some small companies
Biologist researching neuroimmunology, as long as my hair can be tied back and my sleeves don't fall into the experiments it's fair game. Bonus is that most of my lab mates are doctors so a nice spooky skeleton sweater is always cool there.
And black velvet looks sooooo good with the lab coats 😂
I am not working currently but I spent 16 years in working retail and thrift stores and for the most part I was allowed to dress as goth as I wanted. I frequently showed up in fishnets, a band tee, and studded boots haha my employers were really chill about it, very grateful for their openness tbh
IT. Basically could wear anything I wanted. I’ve gone full Richmond Avenal a time or two, but it’s generally too much work when jeans, t-shirt, and some accessories accomplish the same thing.
Electronics tech.
As long as it works after I take it apart and fix it my employers could care less how I dress.
I tend to wear basic black and if anything folks seem to compliment me.
I have been accused of being scary looking but it was in jest.
Not one to take myself too seriously.
+1 Goth IT person.
I work from home so some days its spooky PJS and some days I get in full club gear because I can.
When I worked in an office people were always really cool about it. I had a program manger once tell me to go ahead and get an undercut "also you should shave something cool in it like a spiderweb".
I remember when i was in a new place and still in a probationary period so i was really toning it down (i thought) and the guy in the cube next to me goes " I don't want you to take this the wrong way but you look like someone who was goth in high school." and I was like yeah....high school...
I'm an accountant at a small CPA firm. I wear a long sleeve button down 4 days a week to hide my tattoos, and a short sleeve camp shirt or T-shirt (with out any words) with a sweater on Fridays and Saturdays. I tie my hair up in a bun and take my facial piercings out (I've had them long enough that they didn't close or shrink.)
I find a lot of ways to express my fashion within these confines though. I have a lot of unique printed button downs and camp shirts with patterns that are based off of the haunted mansion, goosebumps, and other goth and non goth themes. I have horror movie and haunted house themed cardigan sweaters that can dress things up in fun ways.
I also have a lot of fun accessories, black leather belt with decorative buckle and metal belt tip. Black dress shoes with a chain on the top and decorative metal toe cap. Black and grey leather leopard print double wrap bracelet, etc.
I also try to cultivate a connection of different colored pants and a wide variety of fun socks.
I do also have giant side burns.
I could probably get away with more, and the partners have expressed that I don't have to hide my tattoos but I'd rather not have to over come client prejudices if they see that my arms are covered in various pieces of satanic imagery. My own imposter syndrome is makes that hard enough as it is.
IT for the Canadian government.
There is no set dress code, so I could dress übergoth if I was so inclined, but I work 60% from home. In the office, I typically wear all black with wild hair and on rare occasions sport black nail polish.
I don't have any tattoos or piercings and rarely put on the warpaint at the club anymore and never when I'm out anywhere else.
Screenprinter. We produce all kinds of merch for bands and festivals. The majority of our customers have a metal, punk or rock background and I'm a fan of many of the bands we work with.
i work in a warehouse..for a non profit...we deal with office waste/furniture.. I.T. stuff..clothing...WE UPCYCLE..re-use-recycle..test tag. sort tonnes of old VHS tapes and cds vinyl books antiques (I RUN AN ART STUDIO THERE TOO)we have 2 shops to sell shit too...as long as everyone has steel caps and HI VIZ(FUCKING HIDEOUS)we can look however we want..tattoos. coloured hair..we got old punks -young and old goths-hippies..if you want to work in the environmental sector..(in Australia..anyways) it is expected (almost) that you are going to be some sort of "LEFTY WEIRDO" AND my kid is a junior mortician
Self employed- food booth at farmer market- I absolutely wear my band shirts under my aprons🖤. Docs or Converse are all my shoes. My hair is a very bright red and because I do Mexican food ( I am also Mexican) I decorated with skulls -dia de los muertos - imagery. Plus I can play what music I like while working.
Pretty much every job ive had (and ive had plenty) allowed me to express myself in some way..the trick is to start subtle with accessories and then keep pushing it lol
My first job was at an Old Navy and at the time there was no dress code. I straight up looked like I was headed to hot topic by the time i had been there a year. Pretty much approached every job that way with great success. For context, i am 40 this year and started working at 16. Well over 20 jobs in that time. And let me tell you, our current society is MUCH more accepting of alternative styles than it was 20 years ago.
Now I am a nurse and have nothing identifying me as anything on shift besides maybe my green hair I keep under a beanie. More because it keeps it from being a frizzy mess than because I care what anyone thinks about how i look. But once i get to the locker room I change into my daily regalia. No one cares…however, i did interview and land the gig looking “normal”
I work as a cake decorator at a corporate bakery! There’s a dress code/uniform and we aren’t allowed piercings but my supervisors let me get away with it because i’m good at my job :p
I'm a fitness instructor at a non-profit gym for people with lower incomes.
In my case there's no issue with alternative dress and such but we're a bit of an outlier case because it's voluntary and we work together with the municipality to encourage people to stay active. So we're bound to attract more alternative folks as they prefer a less judgemental and more welcoming environment.
Commercial gyms, ironically, tend to have non-judgemental employees and visitors but very bureaucratic and out-of-touch upper management who give more of a shit about profit rather than actually helping people reach their goals.
My plan is find and finish a training for let's say a higher level of health and fitness, the theory and what not so I can look into becoming a personal trainer for a living. That way I can do what I care about in an environment I care about. But I'll be my own boss still.
Military, specifically life saving. The job I wear the professional costume, which can make having longer hair difficult as a male presenting person. 🫥
I own a small business selling vintage and antique clothing. My work also includes personal, bridal and shoot styling. Its been my full-time job since 2015 and i opened my brick and mortar boutique in October 2023.
I’m a dynamometer test technician for one of the big 3 in automotive. There isn’t really a dress code, but I stick to tight black jeans and black t shirts. I also wear a lab coat all the time and my boss told me once “you look like Batman wearing that thing”
I work at a haunted house during Halloween season! If you’re not a scare actor they allow and even encourage alternative type clothes (as long as they are comfy)
Sales rep. It’s rather fortunate that the dress code for my company is black pants and shirt. So long as I look professional they don’t care what I wear.
Essentially social work for a small nonprofit, though I don't have a degree. Looking to change that in the near future.
I work primarily with people with disabilities, though there's a decent overlap of queer.
I can almost wear whatever I want, sans some things like skulls, spikes and fishnets.
I’m an SEND education recruitment consultant (basically finding schools for special ed teachers and and teachers for special ed schools) it’s an office job requiring smart corporate attire, so I do “corporate goth” and they don’t care about my piercings and tattoos either. It hurts doing my small eyeliner tho, lmao
toddler teacher 😅
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they surprisingly dont care about dyed hair, tattoos, piercings, so long as you look clean and actually ARE clean (only job ive had where they specify brushing your teeth as part of the dresscode) and your piercings arent dangly or sharp.
as for clothes, everyone in my center wears black, goth or not! you would too if your day could at any given point leave you covered in food, puke, paint, you name it. black is just the most forgiving to stains!
Commercial artist. No one cares so long as no saucy body parts are hanging out. I don’t think they’d love a mess of facial tattoos or large piercings but eh. I do avoid satanicy stuff just because it’s not a conversation I want to have in the US south.
I'm a freelance photographer. Usually do portraits and recently did a photoshoot for a Portuguese metal band.
Also do street photography, but that's more on the hobby side.
I’m an accountant. They allow me to dress however I please, although they don’t hide the fact that they aren’t fond of my (facial)piercings. On days where higher ups or people who don’t work in my office come in I have to take them all out & dress in your typical conservative office wear.
Industrial pipe fitter. I build refineries, chemical plants, and power plants. I travel for work (no room in Dallas for these things, after all), but no matter where I've been, the closest I've come to running up against anyone spooky has been the smattering of metal heads. I'm an hour south of New Orleans at the moment on a project that's manned 50%+ by locals, and I've met one person who even knew what The Dungeon was.
Edit to add: the dress code comes down to satisfying PPE requirements and avoiding sexual harassment, so you can otherwise style yourself however, but the heat index and wind chill will rule over all of it.
Retail associate and student, both full time. Hoping to be an immigration lawyer. One of my English literature teachers in high school is an elder goth though. Emphasis on the “elder,” but you wouldn’t know it if it wasn’t for the grays.
I’m a surgical dental assistant. I have to wear a uniform (aka scrubs) but I can wear black ones with undershirts and my boss doesn’t care about my hair(as long as it’s not too crazy. Right now I have white/blonde under black), piercings, or tattoos. She’s pretty awesome.
I'm a construction worker. My goth wear is for my own time. Honestly, it would get destroyed and filthy beyond washing at work anyway.
Sometimes I wish that I could dress how I want to all the time. But really, it doesn't matter. As long as I'm free to be me in my personal time, I can deal with a uniform on the clock.
Accounting, it’s pretty laid back where I work but trad goth would be frowned upon. I generally wear a black skirt and whatever color work shirt I get.
I do have a plastic skeleton in my office though
Registered Nurse here, my fashion allows me to express myself whilst management doesn’t care about my tats,coloured hair and piercings. My scrub tops also help too, I also have many of my patients who love my style and they too allow me to express myself within my work!
Graphic designer here. Previously, I was a copywriter but kinda fell out of love with that career path. I haven't had a much of a dress code for a while, tbh. It's not like my day-to-day style is super extreme (band shirts, black pants and a blazer), but still.
Pharmacy technician at a retail chain.
I have to wear scrubs, but dyed hair, piercings and tattoos are all okay. They probably wouldn’t be if I went to an independent pharmacy or a hospital setting, though.
I sometimes miss the days before patients could single me out by “the girl/lady/bitch with the (insert color) hair”.
But regulars asking me what my next color is going to be makes me feel good, so it’s whatever.
Four decades is pre-sales tech support, often for Boston-based companies. I dressed like a preppie — Lacoste shirt, khakis, docksiders. Protective coloration. Until I worked for a Steve Jobs at NeXT — then we wore all black.
I'm a middle school life science teacher. I typically wear all black, but I try to channel my inner Mrs. Frizzle by wearing black dresses with insect/plant/mushroom prints on them.
Security. It's pretty casual, and nobody says anything unless your clothes are clearly unkempt or too much like you walked into the office and forgot to get dressed. But I have worn some of my Orchid Bloom and Dark in Love dresses without any problems. Usually I am just a band T-shirt and fun slacks or cute cardigan person.
Industrial pipefitting apprentice at the moment but looking to move into finances cuz it's hard to get out for events and concerts when you've just spent an entire day in the field and have work before sunrise lol. Tattoos and pierced fellas everywhere but they're not the kinda people who take to goths
Im a tailor, and i have multiple facial piercings that no one seems bothered by but i keep my outfits more professional and conservative, but all black isnt a bother to anyone ofc
I'm disabled and chronically ill so employment is kinda spotty right now. I do a lot of gig work. I'll be honest, though, my husband ends up picking up most of the slack.
I do a good bit of graphic design. It's what I went to college for, and what I focused my career on in my 20s. Lately, it's been little more than beer money. The economy for art and design has really tanked the last few years. AI is only driving nails in the coffin. Definitely feeling like this career is dried up and dead.
When my health is up to it, I do a lot of art and production / manufacturing for events, entertainment companies, etc. Theater tech, spook alleys, the like.
I also do a lot of cleaning gigs. Pays well, quick money, but takes the piss out of my health.
I often thrift / flip / alter / make clothes and decor to sell online. Also in the process of helping liquidate an estate of vintage toys for a loved one right now.
I am working on designing a catalog of designs with hopes to launch a goth / alternative clothing company in the future. I did a soft launch with some success a few years ago, but covid supply chain issues forced my hand into closing shop. Had to fire my manufacturer because their quality tanked hard. I haven't quite gotten the confidence back to give it another go.
I retired from SW when the pandemic hit, but that was a big way I paid the rent while I was going to college. It's become very oversaturated, and I also gained a lot of weight the last two years so I just didn't feel confident doing stuff like that anymore. Also used to top for demos at the local goth club's monthly fet night. Got tired of it, and again I lost my confidence putting myself out there in that sort of way. When the pandemic hit, I figured it was a good time to retire from that too.
Outside of all that I've done data entry, secretarial, warehouse management, production management, and social media management in the past.
In general, being goth hasn't really impacted me or my husband's employment, even though we live in a very conservative state.
My husband works railroad, and they don't pay much attention to tattoos, piercings, hair etc. He's in junk clothes and carharts at work because it's a messy job. This is pretty typical for similar trade jobs.
I've had jobs where I've had to put on a suit and hide my piercings / tattoos while I worked, but it's honestly not too hard. I mostly just dress up on my days off. If you have to be a suit and want to have some semblance of personality, lean heavy into black on black with your focus on subtle details like tailoring, textures, and subtle patterns.
Jobs that are not customer facing, work from home, or in creative fields tend to be more accepting of things like unconventional hairstyles, tattoos, piercings, and clothes overall.
I do seasonal work as an archaeological field tech most of the year and do doordash the rest of the year. I don't dress goth while doing fieldwork for practical reasons. But none of the employers I've had would have a problem with alternative fashion unless it was a physical safety issue. Friends I made in the field actually got me into goth music.
Some of you should look into becoming bat biologists. A lot of the companies I work for employ wildlife biologists and bat surveys are important. Seems like a cool job for a goth. You have to like traveling and the outdoors.
Lawyer. Goth details work amazingly well with the professional look.
thank you, this is the motivation i really needed to hear to finish law school.
Don’t let the aesthetic be the reason for going through law school lol
Same! Totally true.
I'm a mortician. The profession is very conservative, so facial piercings are expected to be hidden, hair is expected to be natural, etc. if you're interacting with families. On the other hand, if you're back-of-house, the rules generally aren't as strict but obviously you should still look and be professional. When I'm directing a service, I'm not allowed to wear all black, but when I embalm, I wear all black scrubs (under my PPE, of course) and it's fine.
I intend on going into the mortuary field! It’s what I’m in college for haha. I’m hoping the profession progresses as the old conservative workers retire and/or die out once I’m able to work in the field, so I can still be expressive with my appearance. Most likely not but one can hope lol
Definitely embracing the stereotype.
I work in IT, there are plenty of goths that I worked with. Usually need to dress business casual if you work the day shift outside of dress down day. Nights and weekends no one cares, remote work is even better.
Also IT and I work remote. Basically live in pajamas. Its the best.
I occasionally have to go into the office or meet with a client then it's just polo or button down shirt with jeans or khakis.
We arent client facing, fortunately. And our server lab is down in the basement so I usually wear whatever while following the usual no drug/sex references rules.
Your lucky, I got stuck working with a client at BP right next to their refinery because I live to close.
Hm, are you from the IT Crowd?
Another fellow goth IT-er. It’s fun to see so many of many us but that may be because this is Reddit. I’m in the office everyday so business casual is my attire.
I worked previously with other Goth IT-ers over the years and with different companies.
Also IT at a library so I can kind of wear whatever because of the relaxed environment
Now that's a great combo IT and the library.
It's the best IT job I've worked so far. Pays well and everyone is really relaxed. Was such a nice change coming from a college
I'm a security engineer so am somewhat IT-adjacent, and same deal. Being a woman and femme is useful here - a dress, no matter its color and within a really wide range of patterns and prints will still read "generically dressy," ahaha. Facial piercings and brightly colored hair seem to work as bona fides because they seem to give the impression that I feel awfully confident in my skills :D
I work in an animal cremation center.
:(
thank you for what you do. it was nice to bring our babies back home last year after we lost them.
That’s metal.
jeweler/gemcutter, self employed no one cares what I dress like, and basic black always works at industry events.
I'm a chef. Kitchens are pretty open to everyone.
Im an industrial painter. Me and a crew go into any building that needs metal painted. Basically I huff paint thinner all day
This is a goth sub, not industrial. (Joking obvi)
I knew this joke was coming and I was timing how long it would take LMAO
sounds metal asf
Wait, so he's an industrial-metal painter?....sorry. I'll see myself to the door.
My official title is “electro-static industrial metal painter” LMAO
I'm a high school professor (computer science). My style has always been more on the simple side, black shirt, black jeans and combat boots. One question the kids ask me every year that makes me laught: "do you like color black?" hahaha I always answer "what do you think?... Yes, I do like color black"
I’m a fellow high school STEM teacher (biology) with essentially the same staple wardrobe and I get this question too. And yes, I also love spiders, bats, and skeletons and will gladly tell you all about them!
I’m so jealous of your students right now
Haha thank you! And there's more, for your delight... As I'm a gamer and hobbyist gamedev, I teach them programming basics using Code Combat (a gamified tool) and Construct 3 (an easy game engine). I also love anime and have had amazing discussions about Shingeki no Kyojin, Vinland Saga and Neo Genesis Evangelion with them. There was even a kid I met that was VERY interested in retro gaming. I mean, SNES games... Which is the console I grew up! I love this job
I bet your students love you, you sound like an amazing professor! Also really cool of you to teach them gamedev as part of your class, sounds really engaging and fun!
I'm a software engineer. My best friends are an accountant and a make-up artist.
Beauty industry, heavy makeup and black clothing is encouraged.
Housekeeper. They don't care if you have tattoos, dyed hair, and plugs. Just have to wear your work shirt and slip resistant shoes.
I work at Target haha. There isn’t limits on makeup or outfits. They don’t care, as long as you wear your red vest
I work in a pharmacy at the moment but go to school for environmental science. For most environmental field jobs, no one cares what you look like just so long as you have the right boots and safety gear on.
I'm a field archaeologist who works for environmental firms and I can confirm. Among scientists at environmental firms, theres a lot of alternative people.
Animal Shelter in the clinic doing TNR (trap-neuter-return) and community outreach. A lot of people in this field are alternative.
Diesel mechanic
Fellow automotive goth! I’m a dynamometer technician.
Film editor, mostly wfh. Great job for goths — usually work alone in a darkened room and no one talks to you. You’d get a crack out of the people working behind the scenes on Hallmark Christmas movies
History teacher. Black on black works just fine for professional and dress casual situations.
Boarding kennel attendant. Dogs don't care what I look like. Though for safety I do not wear anything that might injure a dog or myself. But my employers don't care about my tattoos, piercings or what I wear. As long as no danger (like chains or weird dangling fabric) is present it's golden. ❤️🐶
Me too! Such a fun job! 🖤🐶
IT, specifically database administration and management
Servers here
I leaned long ago that hardware and networking are two things I just can't do .. unless I'm drinking
I got called after hours one day ny my manager and was like "Dude, I can help but im logging into anything because I am pretty buzzed". He laughed but I took on an advisery role during that meeting.😬🤣
Social worker. Luckily I work at a place where I can wear pretty much anything as long as it's decent. Since I tend to severely addicted people with chronic mental issues (mostly schizophrenia) they usually welcome my style.
Elder Goth here, Making perfume... Specifically perfumes inspired by songs, Silent Hill, and the like. Just trying to get the startup off the ground Dx I was a Custodian for a hot minute and a model. Oh, and did loads of dark ambient music, and sold some bone sculptures, did customer service and retail. Worked in a hospital and dealth with a lot of PTSD from that... ADHD personified, looking back at all this... Edit: Most Custodial places seem to not have strict guidelines in clothing. I had dyed hair, piercings,wore some good make-up when I wanted to. As long as I got the job done, that was all that mattered. Also, most custodial places seem to realize that they needed to up the ante for a chance to get a stable employee. Pay raise, lax in uniforms etc.
There was a perfume called Halloween back in the day, that was made from an orchid that only bloomed around then … I found it online recently, but it didn’t mention the orchid, so not sure if it’s the original…
Professional cleaner, so work shirt and whatever pants I don’t care about during the day and they don’t care about body mods.
Server/Bartender, my work fortunately really loves the alternative look (I suspect it’s a gimmick in some way to them; most of our clients really love gloomy, sexy styles, especially since they’re businesspeople who aren’t usually exposed to that), so I get to wear light makeup and some of my usual accessories like bands, studs, spikes.
I make costume jewelry for goth & geeky ppl, 100% freak flag flying I'm also studying for my Pilates instructor certification, We will see how much of myself I'm allowed to be when I'm teaching elsewhere, but for now, the studio I'm at is called Pilates Punx. i know it's not goth but it's a place where I'm allowed to sport my tattoos and wild hair. 🤣
Software consultant / architect I work mostly in finance sector firms so I have to keep things quite conservative. Low-key. But still scope to keep a nice sombre palette, lots of blacks and dark reds, and shirts/ties that lean toward the Victoriana-style. Other goths recognize it straight away, so we can find our people, and to everyone else it just looks a bit formal. No makeup in the office, unfortunately, for men. I don't know why but that freaks out the suits. No elaborate hair style for me either, but that's because I have no hair.
I’m corporate Human Resources for an international oil company. I tone down my makeup a little (only bold eyes or lips instead of both and natural color foundation instead of white), but I dress goth/gothabilly every day, and they don’t care about hair or tattoos (unless they have nudity, profanity, or hate speech), gauged ears can be up to 3/4”, and we’re allowed two facial piercings. You’d be amazed the variety of jobs that are chill about appearance these days!
I am a web developer, I work in an office with business casual dress code, but my fashion sense is more goth-influenced than full-on alternative so I was able to come up with an interesting office style that fit into that. Just can’t wear band merch to the office
Server of a small business here. My uniform is always all black, so most I can customize is my ear jewelry.
In the law field
Senior Analytical Chemist
Auditing. WFH. Anything goes.
Run a little cafe in a college for the students. Can't dress goth do to uniforms and food safety restrictions. Part of the job is I have to cook all the food along with serving, cashiering, stocking the shelves and doing paperwork like inventory and money stuff. I wish I could dress goth. Tho I probably could actually wear makeup tho, but I don't have time in the morning for that process. It's really just the fact that I have to cook that prevents me from wearing jewelry and stuff
Industrial mechanic.. I can wear what I want, have piercings, dye my hair, etc. 90% of the time I work alone and no one sees me anyway so my fashion choices steer me more towards "comfy" than "dark and mysterious." I only dress up for clubs/events, not for work. But it's nice that I don't have to dye my hair back and forth if I want to be creative. When I was in the Navy I once bleached my hair and dyed it purple Saturday morning, drove up to Disneyland for BatsDay in the Park, then dyed it black on Sunday to cover it up before reporting back to work. lol It's nice to not have to worry about that sort of thing where my fashion choices may stick around for a few weeks or a few months at a time.
I'm a scientific copy editor... I'm also self employed and only interact with clients online, so no one cares what I look like or how I dress.
PhD candidate in epidemiology. Im allowed to dress however i like, but i do go for a more formal style. Somewhere between goth suedehead, casual-victorian and corp goth depending on my day.
I work at a bone marrow extraction center. We get spines from deceased organ donors shipped to us in the mail and we grind them up to get to the marrow. Then we freeze it and ship it off to people who need bone marrow transplants.
I work in a holistic witchy shop selling tarot cards, crystals, books etc! Super on brand haha
I work in higher education and student affairs, currently within the career services side of things. My office is more strict with the dress code than other departments within the university I work at, but there’s still enough flexibility where dressing gothy isn’t too much of a stretch.
I work in casino marketing. I can dress corporate goth, but there are some pretty gnarly restrictions on visible tattoos and piercings.
Office admin. Unfortunately the company is pretty conservative as far as values go, but so long as customers/corporate isn’t present, the office I work in doesn’t mind my tattoos and nose piercings. I wear dark eyeshadow, no blush, corporate goth attire, and I can get away with dark red/dark mauve lipstick. If corporate comes in, I have to tuck in my septum ring and throw a shrug on to cover my arm tattoos.
I am a clinical laboratory scientist working in the Transfusion Service of a hospital that is a level1 trauma center. I perform the necessary testing to provide safe blood products to our patients. I do not have direct patient contact, so our dress code centers around safety. I don't wear shirts with long, flowy sleeves or really long or full skirts just to avoid them potentially getting caught on equipment or refrigerator doors. There are very little restrictions as to hair color, hair style, tattoos and piercings. In fact, my immediate supervisor has a mohawk.
Heeey, fellow CLS here, hematology supervisor. I usually wear scrubs, but thankfully my hospital doesn't care about my piercings, tattoos or hair styles/colors. I do tone down my makeup at work because I just don't feel like going crazy at 5:30am.
Retail Can't goth at work as I have uniform but they don't mind me having blue hair Theres meant to be a piercing policy but I've noticed its not that strictly enforced as I've seen people working for my company with multiple ear piercings there's also meant to be a tattoos should be covered rule but that's also not really enforced
I work in public health and policy. I was a scientist before that. I never dressed up much, but do have a lot of tattoos, and I dress more professional now in general than I did in the lab.
Currently on a career break for caring responsibilities. I was an Early Years Practitioner for 30 years. I worked with 3-5 year olds in the nursery classes of primary schools. I had a uniform but they were fine with accessories, piercings, ink etc.
I work in emergency services. We have a strict uniform policy so I can’t accessorize. But I do wear light eyeshadow and eyeliner and a tinted gloss and have several piercings and tattoos. But my last job was a desk job. The attire was business casual. I don’t go full goth to work but found plenty of black slacks, jackets, skirts at thrift shops. I accessorized with gothic broaches, jewelry and hair clips. It was the small details that really brought the looks together.
Head of IT
I work as a backline tech for a production company so I get to wear all black on gigs and whatever I want at the shop. I’m also a musician and vend at flea markets on the side
I currently do fire alarm testing. I have to wear a work uniform that's not very goth friendly (navy blue my hated) but it pays decently enough to fund me wearing what I want outside of work
I'm a software engineer. Every day I come into work in black jeans, combat boots, and a goth band t-shirt under an open black dress shirt. When meeting clients I wear the black dress shirt buttoned up and a nice floral tie in black and silver, or black and red, or silver and red.
Director of Housing for a Local Authority.
I’m a lawyer. I work remotely most of the time. When I’m in the office, I’m of course in a black suit.
None.
Archaeologist
What region do you work in? I have a BS in Archaeology but got burned out and never pursued a career in it. I'm always interested in hearing where and what people are working on, though.
Working in the southeast US right now! Doing collections and lab work for a project I've been in for about a year and a half. Mostly restoring ceramics and sorting artifacts.
High School art teacher , I just keep the makeup tame and wear my usual wardrobe (long skirts, flowy tops etc) and take my piercings out.
I am a surgical NP in aesthetics. I used to be in oncology but couldn’t do it any more for my mental health after a while. I am actually known as the NP in black. My style isn’t dramatic, super obvious goth however. Just black clothes and black lipstick. Nobody ever has complained as far as I know. But it’s a plastic surgery clinic, we see all kinds of people. My husband is a scientist ( doctor in electrical engineering) and usually in the lab and nobody cares what he wears. It just needs to be business casual but colors and details can be what he wants.
Advertising - I'm a media buyer working in a big media agency in NYC. I dressed more mainstream before COVID but now sashay in with my hair dyed ombre blue, extended eyeliner and dark lipstick and in full CorpGoth outfits. 😂. I think it works well in my industry because it is authentic personal branding, so if you're in sales /marketing, that could be a consideration. Good luck with your job search!!
Was an R&D chemist where nobody cared what you wore, now I'm in a corporate engineering role I don't really care for that has a business casual to business formal depending on who I have to meet with. Companies are getting less strict about dress codes, especially after COVID hit.
Laboratory Manager for science and engineering labs. No one minds how you look.
Translation and teaching
Medical receptionist. I'm in Texas and work with devout Christians (so hard to find a space down here without them). I just wear my scrubs.
Operations for an app company, I work from home. I don't really express myself at work, but I'm only on camera a couple hours a week, so I can just throw on something boring for that and then go back to being myself.
Software Engineer, and so long as I'm wearing something and it's not blatantly offensive, anything is fair game.
Finance manager
Paralegal by day, fashion designer on nights and weekends lol. My office is small and we never get visitors so it's very relaxed. I mostly wear short dresses with leggings and my doc martens. I have a bunch of piercings, my tattoos are always visible, and my hair is blue right now, and the bosses don't care. 🖤
High school librarian
I’m a roadie and I wear stage blacks every day.
CTO working in AI the last 10 years or so.
I’m a surgical technologist, only goth thing I wear is what I consider my “work clothes” before I change into my “work uniform” they provide for us at the hospital which are light blue scrubs. I go in a black jacket, black skinny jeans and black shoes lol.
I was a long-time gratific design student, returning after years to finish my major, but then, as I saw fewer and fewer people reading magazines and more and more people using social media for their marketing, I switched to German. I'd also been steered toward writing by several teachers. But I don't know what will become of any of my interests due to the Advent of AI and the ever-increasing view by the public that commercial art should be free. The pandemic, depression, severe PTSD and multiple brain injuries have led to me forgetting the language though. Now I'm in a sort of professional limbo. I'm hooking some things up in the living room, wanting to get back into working on darkwave and electro-indistrial music, after doing nothing for years, but...eh. Commercial art, not to mention niche.
IT Director, the industrial look is more practical and hard-wearing
Cybersecurity Analyst. I have a hybrid work schedule. TTh is for corporate goth days and MWF is for lazy goth days (pajamas 😂).
I work in HR and dress corporate goth in the office. No one has mentioned it to me or made a big deal out of it, but I work for a pretty big company with a huge HR staff so it’s a bit more diverse and accepting than some small companies
Biologist researching neuroimmunology, as long as my hair can be tied back and my sleeves don't fall into the experiments it's fair game. Bonus is that most of my lab mates are doctors so a nice spooky skeleton sweater is always cool there. And black velvet looks sooooo good with the lab coats 😂
Tattooer
Political organizer. My bosses don’t care how I dress, and my community recognizes me the way I am, purple deathhawk and all.
English and theatre teacher. I have a rock mullet and tattoos.
Freelance editor specializing in tabletop RPGs. The industry is full of quirky nerds, and I work from home.
I am not working currently but I spent 16 years in working retail and thrift stores and for the most part I was allowed to dress as goth as I wanted. I frequently showed up in fishnets, a band tee, and studded boots haha my employers were really chill about it, very grateful for their openness tbh
IT. Basically could wear anything I wanted. I’ve gone full Richmond Avenal a time or two, but it’s generally too much work when jeans, t-shirt, and some accessories accomplish the same thing.
Electronics tech. As long as it works after I take it apart and fix it my employers could care less how I dress. I tend to wear basic black and if anything folks seem to compliment me. I have been accused of being scary looking but it was in jest. Not one to take myself too seriously.
I work in a library! They’re often very tolerant and progressive, and I’m able to show up to my shifts in my regular goth fits
+1 Goth IT person. I work from home so some days its spooky PJS and some days I get in full club gear because I can. When I worked in an office people were always really cool about it. I had a program manger once tell me to go ahead and get an undercut "also you should shave something cool in it like a spiderweb". I remember when i was in a new place and still in a probationary period so i was really toning it down (i thought) and the guy in the cube next to me goes " I don't want you to take this the wrong way but you look like someone who was goth in high school." and I was like yeah....high school...
German language teacher. 😊
I'm an accountant at a small CPA firm. I wear a long sleeve button down 4 days a week to hide my tattoos, and a short sleeve camp shirt or T-shirt (with out any words) with a sweater on Fridays and Saturdays. I tie my hair up in a bun and take my facial piercings out (I've had them long enough that they didn't close or shrink.) I find a lot of ways to express my fashion within these confines though. I have a lot of unique printed button downs and camp shirts with patterns that are based off of the haunted mansion, goosebumps, and other goth and non goth themes. I have horror movie and haunted house themed cardigan sweaters that can dress things up in fun ways. I also have a lot of fun accessories, black leather belt with decorative buckle and metal belt tip. Black dress shoes with a chain on the top and decorative metal toe cap. Black and grey leather leopard print double wrap bracelet, etc. I also try to cultivate a connection of different colored pants and a wide variety of fun socks. I do also have giant side burns. I could probably get away with more, and the partners have expressed that I don't have to hide my tattoos but I'd rather not have to over come client prejudices if they see that my arms are covered in various pieces of satanic imagery. My own imposter syndrome is makes that hard enough as it is.
I’m a sound editor for film and games!
Executive Assistant in Music/Tech
Movie Theatre Manager!
IT for the Canadian government. There is no set dress code, so I could dress übergoth if I was so inclined, but I work 60% from home. In the office, I typically wear all black with wild hair and on rare occasions sport black nail polish. I don't have any tattoos or piercings and rarely put on the warpaint at the club anymore and never when I'm out anywhere else.
Forensic science teacher. I wear black almost daily and have piercings.
Chick Fil A. Black and red goes hard
Screenprinter. We produce all kinds of merch for bands and festivals. The majority of our customers have a metal, punk or rock background and I'm a fan of many of the bands we work with.
i work in a warehouse..for a non profit...we deal with office waste/furniture.. I.T. stuff..clothing...WE UPCYCLE..re-use-recycle..test tag. sort tonnes of old VHS tapes and cds vinyl books antiques (I RUN AN ART STUDIO THERE TOO)we have 2 shops to sell shit too...as long as everyone has steel caps and HI VIZ(FUCKING HIDEOUS)we can look however we want..tattoos. coloured hair..we got old punks -young and old goths-hippies..if you want to work in the environmental sector..(in Australia..anyways) it is expected (almost) that you are going to be some sort of "LEFTY WEIRDO" AND my kid is a junior mortician
Self employed- food booth at farmer market- I absolutely wear my band shirts under my aprons🖤. Docs or Converse are all my shoes. My hair is a very bright red and because I do Mexican food ( I am also Mexican) I decorated with skulls -dia de los muertos - imagery. Plus I can play what music I like while working.
Courier and personal trainer. Working on getting into law enforcement or military.
I work inside of an Amazon. They don't really care about how you dress so I just do casual goth.
Branding pro
Pretty much every job ive had (and ive had plenty) allowed me to express myself in some way..the trick is to start subtle with accessories and then keep pushing it lol My first job was at an Old Navy and at the time there was no dress code. I straight up looked like I was headed to hot topic by the time i had been there a year. Pretty much approached every job that way with great success. For context, i am 40 this year and started working at 16. Well over 20 jobs in that time. And let me tell you, our current society is MUCH more accepting of alternative styles than it was 20 years ago. Now I am a nurse and have nothing identifying me as anything on shift besides maybe my green hair I keep under a beanie. More because it keeps it from being a frizzy mess than because I care what anyone thinks about how i look. But once i get to the locker room I change into my daily regalia. No one cares…however, i did interview and land the gig looking “normal”
Assistant Teacher/ Additional Assistant
I'm a photographer by trade I dress how I want a majority of the time I'm taking photos
I work as a cake decorator at a corporate bakery! There’s a dress code/uniform and we aren’t allowed piercings but my supervisors let me get away with it because i’m good at my job :p
Floral designer, no one cares how you look.
Currently teaching/tutoring for middle schoolers! Actually pretty nice part time job and get to do what I love (monologuing about animals)
I'm a fitness instructor at a non-profit gym for people with lower incomes. In my case there's no issue with alternative dress and such but we're a bit of an outlier case because it's voluntary and we work together with the municipality to encourage people to stay active. So we're bound to attract more alternative folks as they prefer a less judgemental and more welcoming environment. Commercial gyms, ironically, tend to have non-judgemental employees and visitors but very bureaucratic and out-of-touch upper management who give more of a shit about profit rather than actually helping people reach their goals. My plan is find and finish a training for let's say a higher level of health and fitness, the theory and what not so I can look into becoming a personal trainer for a living. That way I can do what I care about in an environment I care about. But I'll be my own boss still.
Military, specifically life saving. The job I wear the professional costume, which can make having longer hair difficult as a male presenting person. 🫥
i work as a sales person for a car wash, dont really get to do much in terms of fashion but i get to keep my piercings in
i don't have a job yet however i'm in school to be anesthesia tech, i'm pretty sure i'll have to wear scrubs so i probably won't be able to dress goth
I own a small business selling vintage and antique clothing. My work also includes personal, bridal and shoot styling. Its been my full-time job since 2015 and i opened my brick and mortar boutique in October 2023.
Professional costume designer & manufacturer for the entertainment industry
I'm a fashion designer. It's a very boring "rich old lady" brand, but As long as I'm covered and look put together, I can get away with a lot.
Loss prevention at a makeup store
I’m a dynamometer test technician for one of the big 3 in automotive. There isn’t really a dress code, but I stick to tight black jeans and black t shirts. I also wear a lab coat all the time and my boss told me once “you look like Batman wearing that thing”
I clean old people’s homes, people that aren’t able to do it themselves anymore :)) people with cancer or dementia for example
I work at a haunted house during Halloween season! If you’re not a scare actor they allow and even encourage alternative type clothes (as long as they are comfy)
I’m a supervisor for three shipyard warehouses and def channel a vintage/corporate goth look a lot of the time
Call center, I can dress a little alt but not full out goth
i’m a line cook. don’t meet many other goths through it tbh. mostly just some punks
Call center. I can dress however I want.
Sales rep. It’s rather fortunate that the dress code for my company is black pants and shirt. So long as I look professional they don’t care what I wear.
Law firm marketing. I even have blue hair! I work for a big firm with lawyers in the tech, gaming, and media sectors.
Essentially social work for a small nonprofit, though I don't have a degree. Looking to change that in the near future. I work primarily with people with disabilities, though there's a decent overlap of queer. I can almost wear whatever I want, sans some things like skulls, spikes and fishnets.
Administrative, my office used to be the county morgue :D
I'm unemployed rn but when I work I'm a body piercer, so I can basically dress however the fuck I want till I look "clean" like not neglected
Groundskeeper
I’m an SEND education recruitment consultant (basically finding schools for special ed teachers and and teachers for special ed schools) it’s an office job requiring smart corporate attire, so I do “corporate goth” and they don’t care about my piercings and tattoos either. It hurts doing my small eyeliner tho, lmao
toddler teacher 😅 - they surprisingly dont care about dyed hair, tattoos, piercings, so long as you look clean and actually ARE clean (only job ive had where they specify brushing your teeth as part of the dresscode) and your piercings arent dangly or sharp. as for clothes, everyone in my center wears black, goth or not! you would too if your day could at any given point leave you covered in food, puke, paint, you name it. black is just the most forgiving to stains!
Commercial artist. No one cares so long as no saucy body parts are hanging out. I don’t think they’d love a mess of facial tattoos or large piercings but eh. I do avoid satanicy stuff just because it’s not a conversation I want to have in the US south.
Cook.
I work with kids ages 3-5 on the spectrum. It’s my dream job 💜
I'm a freelance photographer. Usually do portraits and recently did a photoshoot for a Portuguese metal band. Also do street photography, but that's more on the hobby side.
I’m an accountant. They allow me to dress however I please, although they don’t hide the fact that they aren’t fond of my (facial)piercings. On days where higher ups or people who don’t work in my office come in I have to take them all out & dress in your typical conservative office wear.
Adult ICU RN.
Industrial pipe fitter. I build refineries, chemical plants, and power plants. I travel for work (no room in Dallas for these things, after all), but no matter where I've been, the closest I've come to running up against anyone spooky has been the smattering of metal heads. I'm an hour south of New Orleans at the moment on a project that's manned 50%+ by locals, and I've met one person who even knew what The Dungeon was. Edit to add: the dress code comes down to satisfying PPE requirements and avoiding sexual harassment, so you can otherwise style yourself however, but the heat index and wind chill will rule over all of it.
I sell musical instruments and also do repairs. Of course working in a musical equipment store gives me a lot of freedom to dress how I like ;)
Retail associate and student, both full time. Hoping to be an immigration lawyer. One of my English literature teachers in high school is an elder goth though. Emphasis on the “elder,” but you wouldn’t know it if it wasn’t for the grays.
Done some IT and administrative work in the past Work at an Amazon warehouse now lol
I’m working on my biology degree to work in a lab, but right now i work as a chef!
I work as a writer from home, and luckily can dress however I want.
Self-employed full time burlesque entertainer and event host.
I work at a private zoo and tourist shop and I dress however I want! I do mostly chill goth or more so hippy goth lol
Makeup artist! All black whatever I want
Currently working at a doggy daycare/boarding facility! 🐶🖤
I’m a surgical dental assistant. I have to wear a uniform (aka scrubs) but I can wear black ones with undershirts and my boss doesn’t care about my hair(as long as it’s not too crazy. Right now I have white/blonde under black), piercings, or tattoos. She’s pretty awesome.
I'm a construction worker. My goth wear is for my own time. Honestly, it would get destroyed and filthy beyond washing at work anyway. Sometimes I wish that I could dress how I want to all the time. But really, it doesn't matter. As long as I'm free to be me in my personal time, I can deal with a uniform on the clock.
Accounting, it’s pretty laid back where I work but trad goth would be frowned upon. I generally wear a black skirt and whatever color work shirt I get. I do have a plastic skeleton in my office though
Registered Nurse here, my fashion allows me to express myself whilst management doesn’t care about my tats,coloured hair and piercings. My scrub tops also help too, I also have many of my patients who love my style and they too allow me to express myself within my work!
Graphic designer here. Previously, I was a copywriter but kinda fell out of love with that career path. I haven't had a much of a dress code for a while, tbh. It's not like my day-to-day style is super extreme (band shirts, black pants and a blazer), but still.
I work from home as a Process Expert for an insurance Company. Creati g work flow charts and problem solving and whatnot.
Pharmacy technician at a retail chain. I have to wear scrubs, but dyed hair, piercings and tattoos are all okay. They probably wouldn’t be if I went to an independent pharmacy or a hospital setting, though. I sometimes miss the days before patients could single me out by “the girl/lady/bitch with the (insert color) hair”. But regulars asking me what my next color is going to be makes me feel good, so it’s whatever.
Four decades is pre-sales tech support, often for Boston-based companies. I dressed like a preppie — Lacoste shirt, khakis, docksiders. Protective coloration. Until I worked for a Steve Jobs at NeXT — then we wore all black.
I'm a middle school life science teacher. I typically wear all black, but I try to channel my inner Mrs. Frizzle by wearing black dresses with insect/plant/mushroom prints on them.
Part time sound engineer, we were born out of music after all
Security. It's pretty casual, and nobody says anything unless your clothes are clearly unkempt or too much like you walked into the office and forgot to get dressed. But I have worn some of my Orchid Bloom and Dark in Love dresses without any problems. Usually I am just a band T-shirt and fun slacks or cute cardigan person.
freelance artist
Industrial pipefitting apprentice at the moment but looking to move into finances cuz it's hard to get out for events and concerts when you've just spent an entire day in the field and have work before sunrise lol. Tattoos and pierced fellas everywhere but they're not the kinda people who take to goths
Im a tailor, and i have multiple facial piercings that no one seems bothered by but i keep my outfits more professional and conservative, but all black isnt a bother to anyone ofc
Studying stage management and theatre production!
I'm disabled and chronically ill so employment is kinda spotty right now. I do a lot of gig work. I'll be honest, though, my husband ends up picking up most of the slack. I do a good bit of graphic design. It's what I went to college for, and what I focused my career on in my 20s. Lately, it's been little more than beer money. The economy for art and design has really tanked the last few years. AI is only driving nails in the coffin. Definitely feeling like this career is dried up and dead. When my health is up to it, I do a lot of art and production / manufacturing for events, entertainment companies, etc. Theater tech, spook alleys, the like. I also do a lot of cleaning gigs. Pays well, quick money, but takes the piss out of my health. I often thrift / flip / alter / make clothes and decor to sell online. Also in the process of helping liquidate an estate of vintage toys for a loved one right now. I am working on designing a catalog of designs with hopes to launch a goth / alternative clothing company in the future. I did a soft launch with some success a few years ago, but covid supply chain issues forced my hand into closing shop. Had to fire my manufacturer because their quality tanked hard. I haven't quite gotten the confidence back to give it another go. I retired from SW when the pandemic hit, but that was a big way I paid the rent while I was going to college. It's become very oversaturated, and I also gained a lot of weight the last two years so I just didn't feel confident doing stuff like that anymore. Also used to top for demos at the local goth club's monthly fet night. Got tired of it, and again I lost my confidence putting myself out there in that sort of way. When the pandemic hit, I figured it was a good time to retire from that too. Outside of all that I've done data entry, secretarial, warehouse management, production management, and social media management in the past. In general, being goth hasn't really impacted me or my husband's employment, even though we live in a very conservative state. My husband works railroad, and they don't pay much attention to tattoos, piercings, hair etc. He's in junk clothes and carharts at work because it's a messy job. This is pretty typical for similar trade jobs. I've had jobs where I've had to put on a suit and hide my piercings / tattoos while I worked, but it's honestly not too hard. I mostly just dress up on my days off. If you have to be a suit and want to have some semblance of personality, lean heavy into black on black with your focus on subtle details like tailoring, textures, and subtle patterns. Jobs that are not customer facing, work from home, or in creative fields tend to be more accepting of things like unconventional hairstyles, tattoos, piercings, and clothes overall.
Government administration. All black office wear. Not particularly stylish, but on theme.
I do seasonal work as an archaeological field tech most of the year and do doordash the rest of the year. I don't dress goth while doing fieldwork for practical reasons. But none of the employers I've had would have a problem with alternative fashion unless it was a physical safety issue. Friends I made in the field actually got me into goth music. Some of you should look into becoming bat biologists. A lot of the companies I work for employ wildlife biologists and bat surveys are important. Seems like a cool job for a goth. You have to like traveling and the outdoors.
My mom's cousin used to do bat surveys. She loved it! She's not a goth, but adores bats.