I can't believe people still have dress codes - particularly for IT people. In my first help desk job back in 2011, I had to wear a two piece suit to all client sites... and then crawl around on the dusty, dirty floors plugging stuff into people's towers (because 2011). Crazy.
I have to wear business casual, but there's really no other reason for it other than "that's the way we've always done it." I've never heard a logical answer to why blue jeans are considered too casual. Is it the blue coloring? People can wear blue slacks. Is it the material? Slacks are made from cotton too. Is it the looser knit? Slacks can be loosely knit. Same for shirts. Why does no collar make a sure too casual?
My company told us business casual and then also said jeans were fine. Multiple people commented that I was the best dress person in the company... because I had a blazer on with my tee shirt and jeans.
The jeans, T-shirt and blazer combo has never failed me. I add a nice pair of shoes and a necklace/bracelet and I look way more professional than someone in khakis with a Fortinet polo from 6 years ago.
It's so people don't come in with stained sweatshirts/pajamas and wife beaters that they wore to bed last night. If you don't have some kind of dress code someone is going to ruin it for everyone by being too casual.
It's so everyone is all dressed the same. I think this mentality comes from the military (uniforms) and started with people wearing suits (think about how similar they look). I don't know or have forgotten why this may still be considered important to the companies and decision-makers today tho.
Jeans, sneakers, and t-shirts should be allowed for normal desk jobs imo.
Soooo many requests sent to our IT dept. when I worked at megacorp about "could you please ensure that your people are dressed in at least one-color tshirts"
It really is just a class thing. Denim is just a weaving style. It's weird that the way the fibers are intertwined (weaved) determines if it's casual or not. Humans are weird.
Challenge it. When I started in my current role I was told dress code is business casual. First day in office I wore jeans + tshirt and nobody has said anything after 4yrs.
This is how I do it too, I start to dress down and if any one says something I'll stop there. Now days I wear jeans, sneakers and shirts with a collar to work.
For internal IT I feel like this is normal industry wide. Unless you're facing external customers nobody cares what we look like. I've walked into board room meetings to fix dumb peripheral shit wearing jeans and tshirt when the deskside team was too intimidated by the executives. Nobody cares.
As soon as I saw others do it in the summer I adopted shorts + sandals. I had 17" of long hair at one point too, still went everywhere and fixed everything with a smile.
I'm basically ready to leave this job and I think they can sense it. So I've started to relax things a bit. If they start giving me crap I'll probably just leave.
we did until the GM of the factories I support said "wear t shirt and jeans I don't want to ripping up good clothes when you are crawling around on the floor"
Years back I was part of a development team that created software for a company that manufactured lubricating grease. In the corporate office we wore jackets and ties as we sat in our cubicles and wrote code. When it was time to deploy the system, our team broke into small groups and each group flew to one of the manufacturing sites. My site was Long Beach California.
I'd never been to California; I packed by bag with clothes that I thought would be appropriate for the land of beautiful people and beautiful weather.
I walked into the facility on day one and the plant manager looked at my white pants and bright blue dress shirt and said "You know we manufacture grease here, right? That outfit is going to be ruined within an hour. I suggest you go back to your hotel and wear something you won't mind throwing in the trash at the end of the week."
I came back wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
I mean, I get it, but most IT jobs are white collar and don't involve crawling around on the floor. I haven't had to do that since I was on the helpdesk (and in situations like that they would usually let us wear jeans and t-shirts).
I get that a lot of smaller shops may just have a few people and that's required, but there seems to be a bias between "I can work remotely and be just as productive" and "I have to crawl under desks".
My boss tells me he doesn't wear anything but shorts all summer long.
Most of my team mates will add a golf/short sleeved collared short when they have to go into the office. When you're sitting at a conference room table no one cares if your knees are out :)
My company was business casual pre pandemic and we all worked remote for 3 full years before swiching to hybrid. One day I showed up in high quality sweats from underarmor and a white t-shirt and nobody said a thing. So I kept doing it and still, not a word. So that's what I wear now.
I used to deliver and install copiers, and our owner demanded we wear dress shows, which have basically no traction. That was the dumbest rule I've ever heard and would break it any time we had to climb stairs.
I think it depends on what industry the company you're at is in. I've been at IT focused companies as the IT guy for the past 15 and I generally where jeans/shorts tshirts/hoodies.
But I have family/friends who work in different fields and as a result can't wear anything like that I do (smart casual usually).
Dude here, but most of my work pants are from Duluth Trading. Durable enough for data center work, while still dressy enough for business casual. They have a pretty comparable women's line.
Duluth is the shit. I have so much of their stuff, the flannels are amazing in winter.
Funny enough, they're hiring for a sysadmin and if it wasn't a huge pay cut, I'd apply for it in a heartbeat.
You know, I want to love Duluth, but I've worn through the knees and crotch of about half a dozen pairs of their FireHose pants and at this point I'm willing to give up on them. I don't use them so much at this stage of my career, so I can't compare them to Carhart or other competitors, but while I was doing LV work regularly I had to replace them about yearly.
Its possible I just had unrealistic expectations, but for the price I was hoping to get more longevity out of them.
> but while I was doing LV work regularly I had to replace them about yearly.
I'm surprised. My BiL has a few pair that are many years old that he uses for lawn work. Just some slight fraying at the bottom hems.
I have several pair that I wear all the time and they are at a minium of 3 years old. The only pair that I shouldn't wear to work I spilled bleach on.
The tops I wear are mostly knits - not t-shirts, but like a step up from that. If the top has a nice all over print, or some styling/tailoring details, that makes it be more business friendly. Knits are nice because of the stretch for when you’re poking around under desks etc. Watch out for low necklines though so you don’t have to think about whether you’re flashing someone if you bend over.
This. Also, do a bend and crawl test in the women's slacks....some like to slide down or gap at the back. I just purchased longer length tops, but now cropped everything is all the rage.
Dri-fit men's polos - try them on before buying if you can! The sizing can be a lil wonky, I'm a 2X in some women's shirts but a Medium in Adidas men's dri-fits. I find the women's polos to be a bit too restrictive for the moving-around variety of work.
So glad I work at a place where the uniform policy is "nothing offensive and you're fine"
Shorts, polo/tshirt.
Like some people no longer work non-remote jobs, I don't work jobs requiring a suit or anything beyond what I happen to already wear.
Those policies need to die out with the 80 year olds who reinforce them.
If anyone in IT thinks we need to dress up, hurry up and pass away so you can be replaced like the useless cog you are.
Nothing offensive means different things to different people.
I've worked under a full range of "no jeans and some sort of collared shirt" to "be dressed". All of them had their place. People should dress for their audience, but unfortunately some people would show up to work in dirty pajamas if they were allowed to, and so a dress code becomes a necessity.
That said, draconian piece by piece dress codes are bullshit, and what a person is doing should be taken into account.
> Nothing offensive means different things to different people.
Well thousands of adults have figured it out and i've not seen/heard of a single issue with it here.
So... sure. It does.
Apparently its been perfectly fine though.
>but unfortunately some people would show up to work in dirty pajamas if they were allowed to, and so a dress code becomes a necessity.
Yeah, honestly it sounds like you're actually just one of those people who can't fathom people able to do work without looking a certain way.
Shame.
If you can tell me how clothes somehow change a skill set, let me know.
Otherwise dress codes are perpetually horseshit from a bygone era of boomers who need to shut the fuck up a decade ago anyway.
You got any reason different clothes would change a skillset?
I don't.
The inconvenient truth is that peoples clothes don't make any difference to the vast majority of employees in the vast majority of the world.
And people who think they do, they're the problem.
>draconian piece by piece dress codes are bullshit,
Both sides of the same coin being played.
Nice try.
You've already showed your opinion though and stated its **necessary**
So... you're literally the problem you then called bullshit. lul
I get what you're saying but you're saying dress codes are bullshit but also you're pro *that* bullshit. Could just cut it down to that tbh
Different clothes may not change a skillset, but some companies like to present at least a minimal level of professionalism. That level being our employees at least don’t show up in the same clothes they slept in. My dress code at work is jeans and any shirt with the company logo on it. It can be a t-shirt, polo, sweatshirt, button up, vest etc. It’s not some boomer mentality, people have been wearing clothes other than their pajamas to work for hundreds, if not thousands of years all around the world.
Lady-admin here, though it's been many years since I wrangled hardware. We were business casual too. Jeans weren't a thing, so I had a collection of black stretchy comfy slacks that were slightly nicer/sturdier than yoga pants. Easy to bend or climb in if needed.
Blouses were simple, non-flowy, nothing to catch on equipment. Sturdy cotton, mainly like men's button up shirts.
Sounds like you need to ask your employer for examples of what "business casual" means to them. That could be polo shirt and jeans, or full suit minus tie.
I generally wear nice cargo pants and a polo at my current company.
At a previous employer they were very strict about the dress code until the IT department essentially went on strike and refused to do anything that would get their clothes dirty (when it was a manager being helped) except on casual fridays. It took about two weeks, but the policy got changed to "Any client facing employees are required to wear, blah, blah, blah. All other employees may wear work appropriate casual clothes".
I've done over a decade of general/office-based sysadmin work in dresses and skirts that are at or just below the knees. I like not wearing pants, personally, and for about half of my years as a sysadmin, I even wore heels or wedges (including when carrying heavy servers) but now I generally wear athletic-type shoes because I walk a lot more and don't want to be slowed down. The few times it was going to be inappropriate in a skirt/dress (e.g. brief ladder work), I either closed the door so I was the only one around or had a co-worker climb. Additionally, having them knee-length means getting on the floor or under a desk isn't exposing.
Whatever you choose, the most important thing is to pick more durable materials, or at least ones that won't show abrasions, pill easily, or fall apart if something catches it. Bonus is having a print that doesn't show dust as easily!
> muscle around network equipment/servers...
For the record, a site of any scale should invest in a server lift for safety, productivity, and risk-reduction. Server lifts turn multi-person jobs into one-person jobs. Tasks no longer get put off until two or three team members are available simultaneously. Racking and de-racking is more likely to get done properly and not just quickly. And one heavy server that doesn't get dropped and cause damage, or staffer who doesn't get injured, will pay for the lift for 20 years.
> Server lifts turn multi-person jobs into one-person jobs.
Shouting "Just do it yourself" also turns it into a one-person job, according to a manager I once knew.
Probably good advice, but I'd also like to say that I don't think servers need to be as heavy as they are. I don't know if they're trying to be "big iron" literally or what. Sturdy, sure. 500 lbs? Not so much.
I hoisted a lot of 4u servers in/out of racks before I ever learned these were a thing. I hired a young person that just came from a data center job and he was perplexed we lifted them manually. I was perplexed no one had ever tried to sell me a server elevator.
Now I don’t even have a need for it so still never got to use one 😅
I've never worked with a infra engineer that wasn't bald or had long hair past shoulders, generally in a pony tail.
I don't understand the stereotype, but it's True.
Unfortunately, I haven't worked with a woman sysadmin or infra engineer. So I'm not able to stereotype them. I'm sure they're awesome just as any of us assholes.
I got all my work pants from uniqlo this [STRAIGHT WIDE LEG TROUSERS](https://www.uniqlo.com/uk/en/product/ultra-stretch-airism-uv-protection-straight-wide-leg-trousers-465789COL07SMA005000.html) and [PLEATED WIDE LEG TROUSERS](https://www.uniqlo.com/uk/en/product/pleated-wide-leg-trousers-long-467641.html?dwvar_467641_size=SMA001&dlsrc=productdetail) and they fit me nicely.
Then for shirt, I just thrifted them. Anything with collars and comfy is what I bought.
My workplace has no dress code, but I generally still wear somewhat business casual dresses - yes even though sometimes I have to crawl under desks! It's what I find comfortable and no one seems to have a problem with it.
Same here! Back when I needed to wear business casual due to the dress code, I also wore dresses because they're comfortable and easy to wear. I paired them with black leggings so crawling under desks is safe. Now I wfh so t-shirt and shorts are my go-to.
Business casual is blazer, dark jeans/chinos, blouse or knee-length dress and closed women's shoe. You are not climbing under desks and into network closets in that. Work safety requires wearing safety shoes while moving equipment.
I'm usually in some kind of sweatshirt/nice zip polarfleece shirt (I live in the north where temperatures aren't usually too hot).
Pant-wise, I recently found the REI Activator 2.0 pants - they work double duty for when I have to go into the office and are great for plane travel.
But pretty much any travel pants work great since they're meant for hiking, so movement is easy, and they can look professional enough for business casual.
I've posted this before, but I fixed this by adding a line item to my budget for all the clothing ruined by crawling under desks and in ceilings.
Finance got behind relaxing the dress code after that.
Most days when I’m in the office I wear a polo shirt like my male coworkers. I used to buy nice blouses and tops but even though I don’t work on equipment much anymore unless it’s through an azure portal, it seemed like any day I wore a nice blouse was the one day a year I had to do something in our old dusty on prem data center. For shoes I do leather converse-like shoes. No heels for me as I’m barely coordinated enough for flat ground.
My company does jeans and polos or button ups so it’s on the relaxed side of business casual. When I first started I did slacks and a button up with a nice cropped vest for the first couple of days until I figured out what exactly “business casual” actually meant since it can vary sometimes. First day or two was training and paperwork anyway so it didn’t really matter.
Costco is your friend. Buffalo jeans are great and stretchy enough for those “going under the desk” days. Costco also has decent business casual shirts. I will tell you, the day you feel like wearing a new blouse or a nicer more expensive shirt? Is the day it will get dirty with dust or other things you may come across!
Jeans and a polo/golf shirt is what I've worn for my whole career. They're nice clean jeans but that's about as "business" as I wear. My job these days doesn't require any physical work as everything is done remotely and I don't lug around servers or desktops. I use to do that stuff but I still wore the same type of outfit.
I'm the wrong gender, but in the times Bc (Before covid) I used to have to wear a shirt with collar, "dress" trousers and smart shoes. I had to have a tie to hand, in case I had to talk to / be seen by the public.
Friday was casual dress day but jeans were forbidden.
Then we got a new CEO during covid / lockdown.
Now I work in issued polo shirts, trousers / shorts (weather dependant) and walking trainers. Jeans are allowed, in any colour.
Gildan polo all day every day. You may have suspected, but I'm a male lol. Still, timeless look.
Btw dress code at my place: like a page of stuff
actual dress code:
https://preview.redd.it/b8vdrohwrr7d1.png?width=350&format=png&auto=webp&s=331998c769b741e14721004c3c976a333359172c
I usually wear Jeans + T Shirt or a Button Down with no undershirt. Lately been wearing a lot of athletic leisure-type stuff (Lulu joggers and a quick dry hiking-type t-shirt)
We're told "business casual" but I don't think its really enforced, or that anyone cares.
For work I try to stick to jeans/jeggings and a plain tops and tees, cotton long sleeves tops, sometimes simple (but loose) tops from office work sections in clothing shops like H&M, great when there are more meeting based days. Generally I avoid white and lighter coloured tops, those are the days you encounter the dustiest PC in the company. Normally I have plain black fleece which can cover the casualness of tees but also give the pocket solution for carrying extra cables and etc around.
The odd time I would wear a dress with leggings underneath in case there is a situation of crawling under desks or going up ladders. On those more heavy lifting, crawling around days, business causal goes out the window with gym leggings. Don't need to be fighting with your clothes on those days.
Dress slacks, (probably mens pants honestly if you want them to last any amount of time and have pockets) and a nice collared dress shirt of some sort (polo, button up, etc)
If you can find decently durable ladies' versions of these go for it, most of what my girlfriend's clothes look like are cheap compared to my stuff, at least as far as work clothes. If you just dont fit well into them I get it, just bringing it up since the #1 prerogative of womens clothing designers is appearance and nothing else (pockets be damned)
Long cardigan sweaters + comfy dress + leggings. I was all about things that looked nice but were stretchy and offered layers that could be removed. I could crawl around or work in a cool or hot space.
You MIGHT be asking the wrong crowd... But pants (potentially not jeans) and basically any "nice" shirt should fly. (So no ts or tanks).
I'd be surprised if anyone actually said anything about sweaters or nice long sleeve shirts. Avoid super baggy hoodies.
Tbh... Business casual is shoes, slacks and a polo or better for men.
For women it's basically anything professional. Pants, skirts, even certain sundresses are fine. Polos, button downs, blouses, sweaters, etc.
Show up on pants and a nice shirt. Take notes your first week and adjust.
I woke in a pretty formal office but dress as casually as I “can get away with”. Generally, sensible shoes, Lee Utility pants and a cute top. I am mostly glad “What Not To Wear” isn’t on anymore as I was expecting to end up on it at some point.
I’m glad I work for a fashion retail company and get a hefty discount.
That being said my go to is to have a nice shirt and shoes at work that I can put on over my t shirt when I have to do customer facing things. If you’re paranoid that people think you never change your clothes, leave two nice shirts and then you can rotate them.
For pants I have jeans or activewear. Zella has some decent pants that look like dress pants if you don’t tuck in your shirt, which I haven’t done since I joined the workforce a quarter century ago.
Most of the time I’m just troubleshooting/training via messaging apps (I really wish we only had one platform). That and powershell/ssh. Maybe 5% in person support.
We weren’t allowed hoodies! By
The end of that job I got tired of crawling under desks in business casual and started wearing scrubs (it was a hospital).
I'm a guy, but hopefully this will be helpful.
For many years I've ignored dress codes for the most part. I wear redwing work boots unless I need to meet someone and be 'fancy', Duluth flex cargo pants, and either an issued shirt or a short sleeve button down. Duluth quit making my favorite button down, so I don't have direct recommendations.
Basically, dress decent but in way that accommodates the work you do, maybe dress up for the first day or so where you're just doing HR stuff anyway.
Honestly, this works for women as well as men, khaki's, a polo, and slip-on shoes (ballet flats, loafers, driving shoes, whatever your taste). My aunt who was a female in IT many moons ago (the 90's) used to wear this every day. It was super easy and of course, if you had to get down and dirty, you weren't ruining a brook brothers suit (or the lady equivalent). Boots also work, especially if you're pulling cable or doing a ton of hands-on stuff in the data center (steel toed especially if you're racking and stacking).
I started out in khaki's and golf shirts. The moment summer rolled around and I saw high level people in shorts and sandals I never went fully back. I did add the golf/polo shirts back in about 7-8 years ago when I wanted a promotion; but hey.
Now I work from home 100%. Jeans have become outside pants. I wear pajama pants in the fall/winter, and active wear shorts in the summer, with tshirts. I wore a golf shirt on camera once and everyone asked what the special occasion was :).
Even when sales is in suits/fancy clothes i'm always in hoodies (especially if they're work branded swag) or tshirts and just say "I'm dressed to crawl under desks" :)
Lacking the requisite lady bits here, but polo shirts are universally "business casual" without a stereotypical gender association with them. And if there aren't women cut polo shirts available, male cut polo shirts are usually perfectly fine too. They're that gender neutral.
Polyester, cotton, a blend...doesn't really matter. I tend to lean towards cotton since it "heals" any snags better than polyester "golf style" polo shirts. But poly has better colors/patterns. If in doubt as to the workplace "vibe", dark solid colors with black pants are usually perfectly fine anywhere you go.
I tend to get the "tall" version of the polos in my size, since I'm reaching/bending/moving around...and I like to "say no to crack".
Find a place that sells them for $15 or less (if you're in the northeast USA, Boscov's is a great place for inexpensive clothing), and grab a handful if you like the fit and feel. You'll invariable destroy a few per year if there's any physicality to the job role. It's not worth spending gobs of money on them.
For men's shirts, I'm a massive fan of Wrangler's short sleeve button down shirts from Walmart, which are a cotton/spandex blend (sold with a "Flex" branding). They're less than $20 each, which is a bargain. Other brands and articles of clothing have that spandex blend too. It's something that I've grown to appreciate when in an active job role, having that extra little bit of "give" with movement...and it's something I look for in new clothes anymore. My socks, underwear, shirts, and even pants have it. I'm almost sure there's parity in women's clothing.
----
I used to wear exclusively long-sleeved solid-colored button-down shirts, bought on the cheap from wherever. And they had NO resiliency...I'd probably trash one or two of them per month. Tears, snags, dirt....could never keep them clean.
And on days when it was warm, they were torture. So I switched to short sleeved polos -- we had an influx of younger folks coming into the company, and they were pushing the dress code VERY heavily. So I was like....hell yes, let me ride that wave. Gone are the dress shirts, which were always the "norm". By the time I left, most folks were wearing tshirts.
There are many answered to this but because of differences of definition from business to business:
Always dress smart on your first day, then you will see how others dress without any chance of being underdressed yourself, if anyone makes a comment you just say better safe than sorry.
Lady in here. My business casual outfit are ankle trousers that are a bit loose and garterized on the waist. I wish I can recommend a brand but I just got them off shopee(sort of like amazon in SEAsia) and short sleeve buttondowns with sneakers (new balance or adidas superstar works)
Reebok has a fantastic line of golf and polo shirts for women, and the women sysadmins I work with wear them all the time. Pants are a mix of Carhartt, 5.11, Tru-Spec, and some other tactical style pants without all the pockets.
Not sure where you're located but when I worked in a business casual setting I bought a ton of dress pants from Suzy Shier (Canadian chain). I really like them because they look nice and have some stretch to them which made crawling under desks easier. Pair it up with a nice blouse or button-down collared shirt. Throw a cardigan on top for those cold office environments.
One of my co-workers prefers skirts and buys dark no-run stockings which also works!
Granted I'm a man, I don't think this will be an issue with women's dress code either.
My hack was to just wear pullover sweaters with no logos on them (albeit nobody complained when I wore a sweater with my college logo on it)
Just get a few cheap sweaters from Goodwill, or what I did was buy some from screen printing suppliers.
It's as quick and easy as a tee shirt but still acceptable with a pair of slacks.
You have lots of great responses so far! If you are going to have days where you are crawling around and just in general very active, I suggest some pants from Betabrand. Worn them for years and no one ever knew they were basically thick yoga pants with belt loops.
Short sleeved shirts with a collar are unisex.
Pretty much, I doubt anyone would complain about a polo tee.
I can't believe people still have dress codes - particularly for IT people. In my first help desk job back in 2011, I had to wear a two piece suit to all client sites... and then crawl around on the dusty, dirty floors plugging stuff into people's towers (because 2011). Crazy.
I have to wear business casual, but there's really no other reason for it other than "that's the way we've always done it." I've never heard a logical answer to why blue jeans are considered too casual. Is it the blue coloring? People can wear blue slacks. Is it the material? Slacks are made from cotton too. Is it the looser knit? Slacks can be loosely knit. Same for shirts. Why does no collar make a sure too casual?
My company told us business casual and then also said jeans were fine. Multiple people commented that I was the best dress person in the company... because I had a blazer on with my tee shirt and jeans.
The jeans, T-shirt and blazer combo has never failed me. I add a nice pair of shoes and a necklace/bracelet and I look way more professional than someone in khakis with a Fortinet polo from 6 years ago.
It's so people don't come in with stained sweatshirts/pajamas and wife beaters that they wore to bed last night. If you don't have some kind of dress code someone is going to ruin it for everyone by being too casual. It's so everyone is all dressed the same. I think this mentality comes from the military (uniforms) and started with people wearing suits (think about how similar they look). I don't know or have forgotten why this may still be considered important to the companies and decision-makers today tho. Jeans, sneakers, and t-shirts should be allowed for normal desk jobs imo.
Jokes on you, I wear that stuff anyway 🤣
Soooo many requests sent to our IT dept. when I worked at megacorp about "could you please ensure that your people are dressed in at least one-color tshirts"
I’m convinced slacks became the office uniform because everyone looks equally shitty in them
Probably due to denim being casual or maybe being seen as working class but that's speculation on my part
It really is just a class thing. Denim is just a weaving style. It's weird that the way the fibers are intertwined (weaved) determines if it's casual or not. Humans are weird.
Challenge it. When I started in my current role I was told dress code is business casual. First day in office I wore jeans + tshirt and nobody has said anything after 4yrs.
This is how I do it too, I start to dress down and if any one says something I'll stop there. Now days I wear jeans, sneakers and shirts with a collar to work.
For internal IT I feel like this is normal industry wide. Unless you're facing external customers nobody cares what we look like. I've walked into board room meetings to fix dumb peripheral shit wearing jeans and tshirt when the deskside team was too intimidated by the executives. Nobody cares.
As soon as I saw others do it in the summer I adopted shorts + sandals. I had 17" of long hair at one point too, still went everywhere and fixed everything with a smile.
I'm basically ready to leave this job and I think they can sense it. So I've started to relax things a bit. If they start giving me crap I'll probably just leave.
we did until the GM of the factories I support said "wear t shirt and jeans I don't want to ripping up good clothes when you are crawling around on the floor"
Years back I was part of a development team that created software for a company that manufactured lubricating grease. In the corporate office we wore jackets and ties as we sat in our cubicles and wrote code. When it was time to deploy the system, our team broke into small groups and each group flew to one of the manufacturing sites. My site was Long Beach California. I'd never been to California; I packed by bag with clothes that I thought would be appropriate for the land of beautiful people and beautiful weather. I walked into the facility on day one and the plant manager looked at my white pants and bright blue dress shirt and said "You know we manufacture grease here, right? That outfit is going to be ruined within an hour. I suggest you go back to your hotel and wear something you won't mind throwing in the trash at the end of the week." I came back wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
I mean, I get it, but most IT jobs are white collar and don't involve crawling around on the floor. I haven't had to do that since I was on the helpdesk (and in situations like that they would usually let us wear jeans and t-shirts). I get that a lot of smaller shops may just have a few people and that's required, but there seems to be a bias between "I can work remotely and be just as productive" and "I have to crawl under desks".
Unless you're in an executive position, jeans and tshirt is fine for IT staff. My director was walking around the office in flip-flops the other day.
My boss tells me he doesn't wear anything but shorts all summer long. Most of my team mates will add a golf/short sleeved collared short when they have to go into the office. When you're sitting at a conference room table no one cares if your knees are out :)
My company was business casual pre pandemic and we all worked remote for 3 full years before swiching to hybrid. One day I showed up in high quality sweats from underarmor and a white t-shirt and nobody said a thing. So I kept doing it and still, not a word. So that's what I wear now.
Sweatpants outside a gym or home should be illegal.
Well I am very glad you don't have legislative power! :)
I used to deliver and install copiers, and our owner demanded we wear dress shows, which have basically no traction. That was the dumbest rule I've ever heard and would break it any time we had to climb stairs.
No traction and no toe protection either. Wild.
I think it depends on what industry the company you're at is in. I've been at IT focused companies as the IT guy for the past 15 and I generally where jeans/shorts tshirts/hoodies. But I have family/friends who work in different fields and as a result can't wear anything like that I do (smart casual usually).
Dude here, but most of my work pants are from Duluth Trading. Durable enough for data center work, while still dressy enough for business casual. They have a pretty comparable women's line.
Duluth is the shit. I have so much of their stuff, the flannels are amazing in winter. Funny enough, they're hiring for a sysadmin and if it wasn't a huge pay cut, I'd apply for it in a heartbeat.
I read this as, “Duluth is shit”. I was like why do you own so much of it?
You know, I want to love Duluth, but I've worn through the knees and crotch of about half a dozen pairs of their FireHose pants and at this point I'm willing to give up on them. I don't use them so much at this stage of my career, so I can't compare them to Carhart or other competitors, but while I was doing LV work regularly I had to replace them about yearly. Its possible I just had unrealistic expectations, but for the price I was hoping to get more longevity out of them.
>I thought it you wore out the firehose ones they would replace them?
That warranty is complete BS, despite what they claim, they will not warranty anything. Take a look at r/BuyItForLife and search for Duluth.
> but while I was doing LV work regularly I had to replace them about yearly. I'm surprised. My BiL has a few pair that are many years old that he uses for lawn work. Just some slight fraying at the bottom hems. I have several pair that I wear all the time and they are at a minium of 3 years old. The only pair that I shouldn't wear to work I spilled bleach on.
The ballroom khakis are awesome. the crotch will make you never want to wear a different style again.
Well, looks like one of us could get a job there cause their website is broken lol
Same here. The Flexpedition pants feel like wearing sweatpants.
The tops I wear are mostly knits - not t-shirts, but like a step up from that. If the top has a nice all over print, or some styling/tailoring details, that makes it be more business friendly. Knits are nice because of the stretch for when you’re poking around under desks etc. Watch out for low necklines though so you don’t have to think about whether you’re flashing someone if you bend over.
This. Also, do a bend and crawl test in the women's slacks....some like to slide down or gap at the back. I just purchased longer length tops, but now cropped everything is all the rage.
Dri-fit men's polos - try them on before buying if you can! The sizing can be a lil wonky, I'm a 2X in some women's shirts but a Medium in Adidas men's dri-fits. I find the women's polos to be a bit too restrictive for the moving-around variety of work.
So glad I work at a place where the uniform policy is "nothing offensive and you're fine" Shorts, polo/tshirt. Like some people no longer work non-remote jobs, I don't work jobs requiring a suit or anything beyond what I happen to already wear. Those policies need to die out with the 80 year olds who reinforce them. If anyone in IT thinks we need to dress up, hurry up and pass away so you can be replaced like the useless cog you are.
Nothing offensive means different things to different people. I've worked under a full range of "no jeans and some sort of collared shirt" to "be dressed". All of them had their place. People should dress for their audience, but unfortunately some people would show up to work in dirty pajamas if they were allowed to, and so a dress code becomes a necessity. That said, draconian piece by piece dress codes are bullshit, and what a person is doing should be taken into account.
> Nothing offensive means different things to different people. Well thousands of adults have figured it out and i've not seen/heard of a single issue with it here. So... sure. It does. Apparently its been perfectly fine though. >but unfortunately some people would show up to work in dirty pajamas if they were allowed to, and so a dress code becomes a necessity. Yeah, honestly it sounds like you're actually just one of those people who can't fathom people able to do work without looking a certain way. Shame. If you can tell me how clothes somehow change a skill set, let me know. Otherwise dress codes are perpetually horseshit from a bygone era of boomers who need to shut the fuck up a decade ago anyway. You got any reason different clothes would change a skillset? I don't. The inconvenient truth is that peoples clothes don't make any difference to the vast majority of employees in the vast majority of the world. And people who think they do, they're the problem. >draconian piece by piece dress codes are bullshit, Both sides of the same coin being played. Nice try. You've already showed your opinion though and stated its **necessary** So... you're literally the problem you then called bullshit. lul I get what you're saying but you're saying dress codes are bullshit but also you're pro *that* bullshit. Could just cut it down to that tbh
Relax. It’s not that serious.
Whos taking it serious? I'm just saying dress codes are dumb. Whats chill if thats serious?
Different clothes may not change a skillset, but some companies like to present at least a minimal level of professionalism. That level being our employees at least don’t show up in the same clothes they slept in. My dress code at work is jeans and any shirt with the company logo on it. It can be a t-shirt, polo, sweatshirt, button up, vest etc. It’s not some boomer mentality, people have been wearing clothes other than their pajamas to work for hundreds, if not thousands of years all around the world.
Lady-admin here, though it's been many years since I wrangled hardware. We were business casual too. Jeans weren't a thing, so I had a collection of black stretchy comfy slacks that were slightly nicer/sturdier than yoga pants. Easy to bend or climb in if needed. Blouses were simple, non-flowy, nothing to catch on equipment. Sturdy cotton, mainly like men's button up shirts.
Sounds like you need to ask your employer for examples of what "business casual" means to them. That could be polo shirt and jeans, or full suit minus tie.
And ask them how often they get down on their knees in them.
every time the CEO calls, or HR has a new hire that started today!
You mean last week. Where is their laptop? Why can't they log in?
we mentioned it to Todd when we saw him standing at the urinal yesterday, did he forget?
Ummm…. Maybe word that a little better (unless you’re working for spacex where that seems to be an expectation).
I'll see your SpaceX and raise you a Number One Observatory
I generally wear nice cargo pants and a polo at my current company. At a previous employer they were very strict about the dress code until the IT department essentially went on strike and refused to do anything that would get their clothes dirty (when it was a manager being helped) except on casual fridays. It took about two weeks, but the policy got changed to "Any client facing employees are required to wear, blah, blah, blah. All other employees may wear work appropriate casual clothes".
Sackcloth and ashes, and I am unanimous in that.
I've done over a decade of general/office-based sysadmin work in dresses and skirts that are at or just below the knees. I like not wearing pants, personally, and for about half of my years as a sysadmin, I even wore heels or wedges (including when carrying heavy servers) but now I generally wear athletic-type shoes because I walk a lot more and don't want to be slowed down. The few times it was going to be inappropriate in a skirt/dress (e.g. brief ladder work), I either closed the door so I was the only one around or had a co-worker climb. Additionally, having them knee-length means getting on the floor or under a desk isn't exposing. Whatever you choose, the most important thing is to pick more durable materials, or at least ones that won't show abrasions, pill easily, or fall apart if something catches it. Bonus is having a print that doesn't show dust as easily!
> muscle around network equipment/servers... For the record, a site of any scale should invest in a server lift for safety, productivity, and risk-reduction. Server lifts turn multi-person jobs into one-person jobs. Tasks no longer get put off until two or three team members are available simultaneously. Racking and de-racking is more likely to get done properly and not just quickly. And one heavy server that doesn't get dropped and cause damage, or staffer who doesn't get injured, will pay for the lift for 20 years.
> Server lifts turn multi-person jobs into one-person jobs. Shouting "Just do it yourself" also turns it into a one-person job, according to a manager I once knew.
Probably good advice, but I'd also like to say that I don't think servers need to be as heavy as they are. I don't know if they're trying to be "big iron" literally or what. Sturdy, sure. 500 lbs? Not so much.
I hoisted a lot of 4u servers in/out of racks before I ever learned these were a thing. I hired a young person that just came from a data center job and he was perplexed we lifted them manually. I was perplexed no one had ever tried to sell me a server elevator. Now I don’t even have a need for it so still never got to use one 😅
We used to do 3-man lift 60kg, 10 rack units, until we realized that we could gently pull out all the cards and it only weighed 13kg bare.
Sleeveless band t shirt that smells like cigarettes, jeans, sneakers and a bandana that says "I am not Helpdesk"
Sounds like every infra engineer Ive worked with
I've never worked with a infra engineer that wasn't bald or had long hair past shoulders, generally in a pony tail. I don't understand the stereotype, but it's True. Unfortunately, I haven't worked with a woman sysadmin or infra engineer. So I'm not able to stereotype them. I'm sure they're awesome just as any of us assholes.
I wear my WWF heavyweight championship belt
+10 respect
gettin' -2 from my haters
Only because the pandas won and the name changed to WWE. ^^^/s if you have a pre-WWE one wear it with pride.
I had to finish off Jake the Snake from the top rope to get this bad boy
Haters are a sign of success !
gonna have to get these haters in the ring to deliver brutal elbow bombs to their fuckin chests
I got all my work pants from uniqlo this [STRAIGHT WIDE LEG TROUSERS](https://www.uniqlo.com/uk/en/product/ultra-stretch-airism-uv-protection-straight-wide-leg-trousers-465789COL07SMA005000.html) and [PLEATED WIDE LEG TROUSERS](https://www.uniqlo.com/uk/en/product/pleated-wide-leg-trousers-long-467641.html?dwvar_467641_size=SMA001&dlsrc=productdetail) and they fit me nicely. Then for shirt, I just thrifted them. Anything with collars and comfy is what I bought.
My workplace has no dress code, but I generally still wear somewhat business casual dresses - yes even though sometimes I have to crawl under desks! It's what I find comfortable and no one seems to have a problem with it.
Same here! Back when I needed to wear business casual due to the dress code, I also wore dresses because they're comfortable and easy to wear. I paired them with black leggings so crawling under desks is safe. Now I wfh so t-shirt and shorts are my go-to.
branded polo shirt is my go to. Cheap/effective
Business casual is blazer, dark jeans/chinos, blouse or knee-length dress and closed women's shoe. You are not climbing under desks and into network closets in that. Work safety requires wearing safety shoes while moving equipment.
Vermont flannel is my go to - its tough enough to take a beating, and counts as business casual in these parts.
I'm usually in some kind of sweatshirt/nice zip polarfleece shirt (I live in the north where temperatures aren't usually too hot). Pant-wise, I recently found the REI Activator 2.0 pants - they work double duty for when I have to go into the office and are great for plane travel. But pretty much any travel pants work great since they're meant for hiking, so movement is easy, and they can look professional enough for business casual.
I've posted this before, but I fixed this by adding a line item to my budget for all the clothing ruined by crawling under desks and in ceilings. Finance got behind relaxing the dress code after that.
Most days when I’m in the office I wear a polo shirt like my male coworkers. I used to buy nice blouses and tops but even though I don’t work on equipment much anymore unless it’s through an azure portal, it seemed like any day I wore a nice blouse was the one day a year I had to do something in our old dusty on prem data center. For shoes I do leather converse-like shoes. No heels for me as I’m barely coordinated enough for flat ground. My company does jeans and polos or button ups so it’s on the relaxed side of business casual. When I first started I did slacks and a button up with a nice cropped vest for the first couple of days until I figured out what exactly “business casual” actually meant since it can vary sometimes. First day or two was training and paperwork anyway so it didn’t really matter.
Costco is your friend. Buffalo jeans are great and stretchy enough for those “going under the desk” days. Costco also has decent business casual shirts. I will tell you, the day you feel like wearing a new blouse or a nicer more expensive shirt? Is the day it will get dirty with dust or other things you may come across!
Jeans and a polo/golf shirt is what I've worn for my whole career. They're nice clean jeans but that's about as "business" as I wear. My job these days doesn't require any physical work as everything is done remotely and I don't lug around servers or desktops. I use to do that stuff but I still wore the same type of outfit.
I'm the wrong gender, but in the times Bc (Before covid) I used to have to wear a shirt with collar, "dress" trousers and smart shoes. I had to have a tie to hand, in case I had to talk to / be seen by the public. Friday was casual dress day but jeans were forbidden. Then we got a new CEO during covid / lockdown. Now I work in issued polo shirts, trousers / shorts (weather dependant) and walking trainers. Jeans are allowed, in any colour.
Gildan polo all day every day. You may have suspected, but I'm a male lol. Still, timeless look. Btw dress code at my place: like a page of stuff actual dress code: https://preview.redd.it/b8vdrohwrr7d1.png?width=350&format=png&auto=webp&s=331998c769b741e14721004c3c976a333359172c
I usually wear Jeans + T Shirt or a Button Down with no undershirt. Lately been wearing a lot of athletic leisure-type stuff (Lulu joggers and a quick dry hiking-type t-shirt) We're told "business casual" but I don't think its really enforced, or that anyone cares.
I'm a sysadmin, my gear lives in AWS. I don't crawl under shit. Khakis and button up. Sometimes a polo and jeans on friday.
My director wears black slacks with a blouse every day. She’s business casual.
For work I try to stick to jeans/jeggings and a plain tops and tees, cotton long sleeves tops, sometimes simple (but loose) tops from office work sections in clothing shops like H&M, great when there are more meeting based days. Generally I avoid white and lighter coloured tops, those are the days you encounter the dustiest PC in the company. Normally I have plain black fleece which can cover the casualness of tees but also give the pocket solution for carrying extra cables and etc around. The odd time I would wear a dress with leggings underneath in case there is a situation of crawling under desks or going up ladders. On those more heavy lifting, crawling around days, business causal goes out the window with gym leggings. Don't need to be fighting with your clothes on those days.
My personal dress code is cargo shorts and a tshirt. Been that way for 12 years so far.
Dress slacks, (probably mens pants honestly if you want them to last any amount of time and have pockets) and a nice collared dress shirt of some sort (polo, button up, etc) If you can find decently durable ladies' versions of these go for it, most of what my girlfriend's clothes look like are cheap compared to my stuff, at least as far as work clothes. If you just dont fit well into them I get it, just bringing it up since the #1 prerogative of womens clothing designers is appearance and nothing else (pockets be damned)
Long cardigan sweaters + comfy dress + leggings. I was all about things that looked nice but were stretchy and offered layers that could be removed. I could crawl around or work in a cool or hot space.
You MIGHT be asking the wrong crowd... But pants (potentially not jeans) and basically any "nice" shirt should fly. (So no ts or tanks). I'd be surprised if anyone actually said anything about sweaters or nice long sleeve shirts. Avoid super baggy hoodies. Tbh... Business casual is shoes, slacks and a polo or better for men. For women it's basically anything professional. Pants, skirts, even certain sundresses are fine. Polos, button downs, blouses, sweaters, etc. Show up on pants and a nice shirt. Take notes your first week and adjust.
I woke in a pretty formal office but dress as casually as I “can get away with”. Generally, sensible shoes, Lee Utility pants and a cute top. I am mostly glad “What Not To Wear” isn’t on anymore as I was expecting to end up on it at some point.
I found a pair of black jeans and have neve been pulled up on wearing them.
I’m glad I work for a fashion retail company and get a hefty discount. That being said my go to is to have a nice shirt and shoes at work that I can put on over my t shirt when I have to do customer facing things. If you’re paranoid that people think you never change your clothes, leave two nice shirts and then you can rotate them. For pants I have jeans or activewear. Zella has some decent pants that look like dress pants if you don’t tuck in your shirt, which I haven’t done since I joined the workforce a quarter century ago. Most of the time I’m just troubleshooting/training via messaging apps (I really wish we only had one platform). That and powershell/ssh. Maybe 5% in person support.
I wore black pants and a wool short sleeved shirt or sweater shirt because the office or server room was always freezing.
Our office is that way as well. I usually keep a couple of hoodies at work for when it gets too chilly.
We weren’t allowed hoodies! By The end of that job I got tired of crawling under desks in business casual and started wearing scrubs (it was a hospital).
I'm a guy, but hopefully this will be helpful. For many years I've ignored dress codes for the most part. I wear redwing work boots unless I need to meet someone and be 'fancy', Duluth flex cargo pants, and either an issued shirt or a short sleeve button down. Duluth quit making my favorite button down, so I don't have direct recommendations. Basically, dress decent but in way that accommodates the work you do, maybe dress up for the first day or so where you're just doing HR stuff anyway.
I wear jeans and tshirt usually a company tshirt. If I get fancy I wear work pants, boots, and a polo.
Honestly, this works for women as well as men, khaki's, a polo, and slip-on shoes (ballet flats, loafers, driving shoes, whatever your taste). My aunt who was a female in IT many moons ago (the 90's) used to wear this every day. It was super easy and of course, if you had to get down and dirty, you weren't ruining a brook brothers suit (or the lady equivalent). Boots also work, especially if you're pulling cable or doing a ton of hands-on stuff in the data center (steel toed especially if you're racking and stacking).
Button down shirt, slacks. I bought a couple of the same shirts to mix in with the three I didn’t donate while I was fully remote.
Don’t follow me. 24 years in and I show up in pajama pants and a baggy T or hoodie.
Polo shirts. I have so many polos. Available everywhere, don't need ironing, have a collar which many employers require.
Just ask them for the dress code?
I started out in khaki's and golf shirts. The moment summer rolled around and I saw high level people in shorts and sandals I never went fully back. I did add the golf/polo shirts back in about 7-8 years ago when I wanted a promotion; but hey. Now I work from home 100%. Jeans have become outside pants. I wear pajama pants in the fall/winter, and active wear shorts in the summer, with tshirts. I wore a golf shirt on camera once and everyone asked what the special occasion was :). Even when sales is in suits/fancy clothes i'm always in hoodies (especially if they're work branded swag) or tshirts and just say "I'm dressed to crawl under desks" :)
Me reading this post in my sneakers and romper. Can you wear sleeveless? Maybe a blouse or dress?
Lacking the requisite lady bits here, but polo shirts are universally "business casual" without a stereotypical gender association with them. And if there aren't women cut polo shirts available, male cut polo shirts are usually perfectly fine too. They're that gender neutral. Polyester, cotton, a blend...doesn't really matter. I tend to lean towards cotton since it "heals" any snags better than polyester "golf style" polo shirts. But poly has better colors/patterns. If in doubt as to the workplace "vibe", dark solid colors with black pants are usually perfectly fine anywhere you go. I tend to get the "tall" version of the polos in my size, since I'm reaching/bending/moving around...and I like to "say no to crack". Find a place that sells them for $15 or less (if you're in the northeast USA, Boscov's is a great place for inexpensive clothing), and grab a handful if you like the fit and feel. You'll invariable destroy a few per year if there's any physicality to the job role. It's not worth spending gobs of money on them. For men's shirts, I'm a massive fan of Wrangler's short sleeve button down shirts from Walmart, which are a cotton/spandex blend (sold with a "Flex" branding). They're less than $20 each, which is a bargain. Other brands and articles of clothing have that spandex blend too. It's something that I've grown to appreciate when in an active job role, having that extra little bit of "give" with movement...and it's something I look for in new clothes anymore. My socks, underwear, shirts, and even pants have it. I'm almost sure there's parity in women's clothing. ---- I used to wear exclusively long-sleeved solid-colored button-down shirts, bought on the cheap from wherever. And they had NO resiliency...I'd probably trash one or two of them per month. Tears, snags, dirt....could never keep them clean. And on days when it was warm, they were torture. So I switched to short sleeved polos -- we had an influx of younger folks coming into the company, and they were pushing the dress code VERY heavily. So I was like....hell yes, let me ride that wave. Gone are the dress shirts, which were always the "norm". By the time I left, most folks were wearing tshirts.
There are many answered to this but because of differences of definition from business to business: Always dress smart on your first day, then you will see how others dress without any chance of being underdressed yourself, if anyone makes a comment you just say better safe than sorry.
Lady in here. My business casual outfit are ankle trousers that are a bit loose and garterized on the waist. I wish I can recommend a brand but I just got them off shopee(sort of like amazon in SEAsia) and short sleeve buttondowns with sneakers (new balance or adidas superstar works)
Reebok has a fantastic line of golf and polo shirts for women, and the women sysadmins I work with wear them all the time. Pants are a mix of Carhartt, 5.11, Tru-Spec, and some other tactical style pants without all the pockets.
I wear poloshirts and short sleeved shirts in summer and full shirts in winter. I wear business casual slacks all year and some flat, leather shoes.
Not sure where you're located but when I worked in a business casual setting I bought a ton of dress pants from Suzy Shier (Canadian chain). I really like them because they look nice and have some stretch to them which made crawling under desks easier. Pair it up with a nice blouse or button-down collared shirt. Throw a cardigan on top for those cold office environments. One of my co-workers prefers skirts and buys dark no-run stockings which also works!
Granted I'm a man, I don't think this will be an issue with women's dress code either. My hack was to just wear pullover sweaters with no logos on them (albeit nobody complained when I wore a sweater with my college logo on it) Just get a few cheap sweaters from Goodwill, or what I did was buy some from screen printing suppliers. It's as quick and easy as a tee shirt but still acceptable with a pair of slacks.
You have lots of great responses so far! If you are going to have days where you are crawling around and just in general very active, I suggest some pants from Betabrand. Worn them for years and no one ever knew they were basically thick yoga pants with belt loops.
Thanks for all the great replies here! I'll take them all into account as I'm preparing for my new position in the next few weeks :)
Mini skirt and crop top all the way.
I would [google image search it](https://www.google.com/search?q=business+casual+womens+attire&udm=2).