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While maybe it shouldn't be a strong signal, showing up for a tech interview in a suit is kinda like showing up for a finance interview in jeans and a hoodie. I

While maybe it shouldn't be a strong signal, showing up for a tech interview in a suit is kinda like showing up for a finance interview in jeans and a hoodie. It indicates that you're either unfamiliar with the norms in the industry, or deliberately violating them, and neither one is a great first impression. The typical interview rule, IMO, is a good one, at least for men (women unfortunately are under very different pressures): dress one (and only one) notch nicer than the people that will be interviewing you. There are some rare situations where dressing down compared to your interviewer makes sense, but a normal dev looking for a normal job is not one of them.

gaylemcd 9y ago
Yes and no. Dressing abnormally does indeed show that you're either unfamiliar with the norms in the industry or you're deliberately violating them. Agreed. In finance, it's sort of reasonable to be concerned about someone showing up in jeans and a hoodie. A good part of that job is being able be "corporate" and adhere to norms. If you can't do that in an interview, how will you treat clients? In a coding interview for a tech company, adherence to social norms is not particularly valued. Weirdness is tolerated, if not celebrated. So it's fairly different. Tech companies would be far more accepting of a candidate in a suit than a finance firm would be of a candidate in jeans and hoodie. That said... it's still probably best to just avoid the risk of subconscious (or even unfair conscious) bias.