Dress standards for engineers

[pickle9000]

I believe clothing should be worn in the lab.

Footware is optional.

[EEVblog]

At our workplace, the dress standard is open neck shirt and trousers (not jeans)

You have dress standard ? 

Should engineers dress up? Or is looking dapper in the workplace a load of ? Should we take pride in how we look, whether we are dealing with customers or just interacting with an oscilloscope or a compiler? What is the typical dress code in other countries?

Dress codes are bullshit, as is any question about what anyone should wear. You wear what you want. If that's thongs and shorts, and a "who farted" T-Shirt, or if it's an Armani suit in the lab, who cares?

[EEVblog]

My first job interview at Altium I met one of the directors who had shorts, thongs, t-shirt, and smelled and looked like he just got in from the beach. Bare feet once in his office. 

[Stonent]

Where I work engineers who sit at desks seem to wear a long sleeved button up shirt, slacks, and dressy shoes, departments heads tend to wear that as well.
Engineers who get up from their desks to go into the manufacturing area typically wear the plant floor uniform.

The uniform worn on the plant floor is tan or navy blue pants, and either a navy blue polo style shirt or a light blue oxford shirt. They also wear steel toed shoes and a belt that doesn't have a metal buckle.

The IT department is expected to wear the plant floor uniform.  I personally prefer the short sleeved oxford and tan pants, since that's what many of the supervisors in the plant wear.  My direct supervisor always wears navy blue pants and a long sleeve oxford.  Our department manager wears a navy blue polo style shirt that's made of that synthetic material that's supposed to keep you cool and ironed tan cargo pants.

We've got a fairly wide range of engineers though, Mechanical, Design, Industrial and maybe one or two Electrical.

[linux-works]

the concept of uniforms and creative minds don't seem to mix, well.  maybe the jobs that require strict uniforms don't -want- individual thought; they want groupthink.

sounds like a living hell to me.

[David_AVD]

There's nothing wrong with a dress code (or uniforms) if workers are in contact with the public.  If you're "behind the scenes" I guess it really shouldn't matter what you wear as long as it's not offensive and is appropriate for the conditions.

[linux-works]

even if I'm a 'public', some guy wearing a uniform does not inspire confidence any more than a guy in normal dress.

if anything, it makes a person seem more like a robot.  its dehumanizing to have to lose your individuality.

not everyone wants it or respects it.  I find it very odd, in fact.

[GeoffS]

Apart from a stint in  the RAAF, I've never worked anywhere that required a company uniform.
The dress requirements in the various large IT companies for which I've worked,  varied from suit and tie (Honeywell - 1980s))  to neat casual (IBM - 2007).

[linux-works]

I can see how uniforms benefit management.  again, it encourages following orders and not questioning the superiors.  I don't quite see how it benefits the individuals who are forced or pressured to conform.  I realize this varies a lot, culture to culture.  like I said, in japan it was so structured that everyone wore a white shirt and tie and no one dared break from the group-look.

[AndyC_772]

I work as a consulting engineer, and I generally wear a suit and tie when I go to meet a customer for the first time. Thereafter, I know what's expected in their workplace and can dress accordingly.

Generally, here in the UK, it's appropriate for a visitor to dress in a slightly less casual way than regular employees. Although I wouldn't normally wear a tie if I'm going to be working in a lab environment, I do keep some reasonably smart 'customer facing' shirts for the purpose. (If they're made of something that's easy to clean after they've got engine oil on them, so much the better! Electronics doesn't always imply clean electronics...)

[VK3DRB]

My first job interview at Altium I met one of the directors who had shorts, thongs, t-shirt, and smelled and looked like he just got in from the beach. Bare feet once in his office. 

Altium's crappy footprints looks like they were designed by some bloke in shorts, thongs, t-shirt and bare feet who just come in off the beach. Not to mention the licensing/updates/vaults user experience.

 

[VK3DRB]

I guess the aim of a dress code is to impress visitors who might walk in. You would not wear shorts, t-shirt and bare feet to your wedding would you? It means respecting others and conforming to norms. We all largely conform, whether you are aware of it or not. Wearing T-shirts that could be offensive to customers, colleagues or suppliers is generally rude, ignorant and stupid. A dress code is a part of expectations and projecting a respective image to your work situation.

A professional image goes a long way.

If I am evaluating a professional product to use and see evidence of sloppy software, hardware or manuals, I generally end it there. The company does not deserve my time. If I visit an electronics company where the workers are dressed in offensive T-shirts, wear thongs (these are flip flops to Americans) and look like yobbos my first impressions would be negative, but not near as bad if their engineers and programmers lacked coding standards or PCB design standards.

[tszaboo]

Well, the company said I'm not allowed to wear shorts and Australian safety shoes at work, and I'm glad for it. Some brilliant people should also realize that they should include sandals+socks also.

[nctnico]

If it's warm I wear shorts. -period- Aircondition has been invented a long time ago...

[dfmischler]

My favorite place for "dress code" was where my boss wore a tee shirt and shorts in the lab in the summer, but added a bath robe in his office because it was "too cold" in there.

[tszaboo]

If it's warm I wear shorts. -period- Aircondition has been invented a long time ago...

I cannot agree with you. You're at your workplace, not at the beach, people are getting payed to work, not to be bothered by furry feets. Especially if you mean "dutch warm", also known as more than 5 degrees celsius.

[BBQ]

ESD-shoes! Except that, anything seems to be tolerated.

[steve_w]

A most interesting topic for me, when i left the air force (in the late 80s) to join the civil aviation authority I had a real problem, after 20 years in the airforce having worn a uniform every day. I was quite perplexed on what to wear, in the end I wore pants and a short sleeved shirt just like i did in the airforce, no one cared.  Today I wear the same thing except on dress down fridays when I wear shorts.  I was surprised to see no reference to OHS and the proliferation of hi-vis and safety shoes.

I now work for a defence contractor and our remaining dress rule is wearing closed in shoes in the lab (its a weapon lab) and we move heavy (inert) weapons and god help the person who drops a bomb on his foot cause his shoes won't save him.

[nctnico]

If it's warm I wear shorts. -period- Aircondition has been invented a long time ago...

I cannot agree with you. You're at your workplace, not at the beach, people are getting payed to work, not to be bothered by furry feets. Especially if you mean "dutch warm", also known as more than 5 degrees celsius.

Just wait until you are in an office under a flat roof on a warm day. Some people don't seem to mind what they wear though. When I was the head of IT in a stock brokers firm there was an interesting dress code incident. An IT tech from a bank had to install some software. This guy came in short pants and a see-through shirt. When he left I said to the lady from the administration she finally had an IT guy around she would want to look at. She replied 'I think he's gay' 

[SeanB]

When the AC died and we were working at 60C plus dress code was Australian safety shoes and shorts with a bandana to keep the sweat out of the eyes. T shirt optional and Raven got a nice tan as he had the window side. You can see my old office on GE at 10cm resolution........ No street view, they would have had a hard time getting in there.

[schwarz-brot]

I like wearing suits at meetings (no tie) as it often brings me into the position of being taken serious by the right persons (I am only working besides studying but managed to give some valuable hints for my company.) It's all about psychology, I guess. My bosses of course know that I only talk if I know what I am talking about. So if no strangers are around I wear what I wear when working: dirty jeans and easy to clean T-shirts. I like to get dirty and I do get dirty. For my bosses it is important to know that I would not look like that when I visited a customer or came to a meeting with strangers.

For those who wonder why some people sit down with their jackets on: That is what it should be like. If you take off the jacket you might as well wear anything else but a suit. Also it is not allowed to stand up or walk around with an opened jacket! Opened jacket is only allowed if you sit down. Anything else is a fashion faux pas. Tells a lot if a person gives a shit.

[NiHaoMike]

There is no formal "dress code" at the places I have worked so far, apart from one lab that prohibited open toed shoes.

When I worked at Intel, there were a few Indian ladies who always dressed like it was winter, scarf and all. It looked really strange when it was in the triple digits outside. Turns out they spend most of their time in the server room, where it gets down to 65F with a good draft on the front of the racks.

[free_electron]

If it's warm I wear shorts. -period- Aircondition has been invented a long time ago...

I cannot agree with you. You're at your workplace, not at the beach, people are getting payed to work, not to be bothered by furry feets. Especially if you mean "dutch warm", also known as more than 5 degrees celsius.

if the boss can't be arsed to provide a temperature controlled work environment he'll have to live with me walking in in shorts.
it's 2014 for crying out loud. Airconditioned buildings are up there with other basic needs such as food and water

[c4757p]

I cannot agree with you. You're at your workplace, not at the beach, people are getting payed to work, not to be bothered by furry feets. Especially if you mean "dutch warm", also known as more than 5 degrees celsius.

You could try not being bothered by furry feets. I find people tend to be significantly happier when they don't let others' personal choices bother them.

[linux-works]

Also it is not allowed to stand up or walk around with an opened jacket! Opened jacket is only allowed if you sit down. Anything else is a fashion faux pas. Tells a lot if a person gives a shit.

clearly, I don't give a shit.  and 'fashion' at work?  again, who cares!  this isn't a social party and you are not there to pick up girls

you are there to do the work and being comfortable helps, not hurts.  formal clothes are restraining and other than being a show-off, I can't see how wearing ties and jackets and tight shoes helps anything but the clothing sellers