21 ms·

Swag in the Tech Industry

50 points by jasoneckert 4y ago

mattbee 4y ago
My swag lesson: everyone likes bottle openers! But international travellers can't take pointy/blady things back in hand luggage. I had a lot of those things left over after that show.
- carabiner 4y ago
  Do they really? I'd think everyone who drinks already has a couple. I've got two at all times (one that's part of a multitool, and a separate titanium one from a Kickstarter).
- jaredsohn 4y ago
  >everyone likes bottle openers I have no use for one. Haven't opened a bottle in a few years now. And maybe have done so at most 30 times throughout my life. (Don't drink soda and rarely drink alcohol.)
  - xhkkffbf 4y ago
    Most of the alcohol these days has pull tabs or twist tops. There was a time when the companies tried to pretend that old bottles with old caps were somehow better but I think that urge has faded.
    - tom_ 4y ago
      Untrue for bottled beer in the uk!
    - fleddr 4y ago
      Not true in the Netherlands, which is why the average dutch person can open a bottle of beer with various objects, such as a lighter, keys, anything small and stiff, tabletop or teeth.
      - 0des 4y ago
        nokia will always have a special place in my heart
- macksd 4y ago
  I certainly don't, and I would like them even less if multiple companies were sticking them in my hand at a trade show. I think generally the tech industry could do with less focus on alcohol. I don't drink, but I used to be okay with going to socialize with coworkers at a happy hour. But it doesn't take very long to tire of leadership talking about inclusivity, and then only planning alcohol-focused team events, when they all know I'm not into it. But more to the point: a lot of harmful stuff happens to your team when everyone is drunk. It's hard to work with someone who threw up in your Uber the night before. I don't know why some companies keep rolling those dice.
  - happyopossum 4y ago
    > a lot of harmful stuff happens to your team when everyone is drunk As you've proven, having alcohol based events doesn't require anyone (and def not everyone) to get drunk. > It's hard to work with someone who threw up in your Uber the night before You clearly have some issues with people who drink to excess. That's your prerogative, so maybe you should work with different people.
    - macksd 4y ago
      And how many different companies should I work at before I conclude that the industry in general could use a change and that it's not me that needs to make changes?
    - el_benhameen 4y ago
      Wait, what? I drink sometimes, I don’t mind events with drinking, but I would never think to drink the point of throwing up at a work event and would absolutely disapprove of anyone who does. Rather than asking people to filter companies based on the most noxious behavior from the most irresponsible team member, why not enforce a minimum bar for acceptable behavior? It’s not like puking is a job duty.
    - bawolff 4y ago
      > You clearly have some issues with people who drink to excess. That's your prerogative, so maybe you should work with different people. Wtf? That's definitely not on the poster. I don't have a problem with an (optional) work happy hour, but its still work and a base level of professionalism is expected. People drinking to excess at work events is a major red flag for the company.
- ryukafalz 4y ago
  Yeah, this reminds me of one of the swag items at KubeCon a few years ago. Someone was giving out DevOps Magic 8 Balls. My first thought: “oh that’s fun!” My second thought: “wait this is annoying to get back home on the flight.”
onion2k 4y ago
As a counterpoint, I flat out refuse to buy anything from any company that gives out plastic destined-to-spend-1000-years-in-landfill crap. Spend your marketing budget funding open source project maintainers on the other hand, and I will listen.
- iLoveOncall 4y ago
  So you aren't buying anything from any company ever? I'm pretty sure there isn't a single company that has been alive for a year and hasn't distributed some branded pens or other crappy items like that.
csomar 4y ago
My most favorite is Lufthansa USB drive: https://webimg.secondhandapp.at/w-i-mgl/6107ec05459d38277e6bbf0c https://webimg.secondhandapp.at/w-i-mgl/6107ec05459d38277e6b... It has very nice and slick look, and is actually very useful.
standardUser 4y ago
It's true some swag has endeared me to companies, like my awesome, color-changing Weather Underground mug. But the vast, vast majority is low-quality garbage that I wish never existed, and certainly wish never become my burden to dispose of. I say, aim for a tiny amount of high-quality swag. Or hell, just give people branded gift cards!
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Comfy T-shirts are always welcome swag.
  - closewith 4y ago
    Not always welcome - I certainly decline or recycle all the branded clothing I get. Better if it was never made.
    - 1-more 4y ago
      I won a trip to a conference in Las Vegas. I didn't want to go but it was made clear that I couldn't turn it down. Looking around and just seeing the oceans of garbage being made to hand out to people who didn't want or need it on top of everything else that horrifies me about Las Vegas put me in a really awful mood.
  - standardUser 4y ago
    For me, those are PJ shirts at best. But most swag shirts aren't that comfy!
  - pamelafox 4y ago
    FYI- I can't currently wear t-shirts since I've been either pregnant or nursing for the last 3 years. T-shirts aren't compatible with pregnant/nursing bodies, so I just decline them or immediately give them away when I receive them. Zip-ups are actually the most compatible, of all the clothing swag, and my partner can attest to how frequently I steal his swaggy zip-ups. :) Generally I think that if there is going to be swag given away, people should get to opt in to swag or such swag should be wholly biodegradable.
ramesh31 4y ago
The key with t-shirts is quality. Spend the extra $5 a piece for screen printed American Apparel, and I'll wear that thing every day until it has holes. But random cheap shirts go straight to the trash.
- xhkkffbf 4y ago
  Hanes Beefy T for me. AA stuff is too trendy. I need something that can handle some wear and tear.
post_break 4y ago
I have a very nice yeti cup company from a certain company. Use it daily. The company had a super serious data breach so we didn't use them and it makes me think about it from time to time.
cookiengineer 4y ago
I usually don't like conference swag because most of the stuff is honestly useless anyways. We all have probably thousands of pens, pencils and blocks of paper by now. Not to mention all the stickers that get thrown away immediately. The only time I was jealous of other conference attendees was when they ran out of a multi-USB adapter set that was given out as branded swag. Weeks of looking online later I finally found the manufacturer: van maehlen and its allroundo sets. [1] I instantly bought it and it's since been always in my backpack. The only other swag I still have and actively use is a rubberducky and a teensy ;) [1] https://www.vonmaehlen.com/allroundo-c https://www.vonmaehlen.com/allroundo-c
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
baron816 4y ago
I had the opportunity to get a very high quality leather bomber jacket for my division at my company. The thing probably cost the company over $1k. I decided not to take it since I probably would’ve never worn it and didn’t want to waste such a beautiful thing.
- boopboopbadoop 4y ago
  I bet your manager and/or peers looked at you like you were a blasphemer. I don’t know how it became normal to want to advertise for an employer. Good for you, I would have done the same.
jjcm 4y ago
If anyone is interested in leveling up their swag at the expense of time, going directly to tailors in Asia (I use Vietnam) can massively increase the quality, while providing the same expense and delivering more money to those who make your clothes. For the same price as a sweater with a logo on it, I got bespoke wool pea coats made for everyone on my team (made to fit to their measurements), with custom printed lining and an embroidered subtle logo on it. Final cost with shipping was about $70pp. Tailor made clothes look so much better and it makes people want to wear them more. The cost was time - it's about a 2mo turnaround and you'll be looking at about 8 hrs of spend on your end coordinating things.
- CharlesW 4y ago
  That's really interesting. How does one even start? Are there any guides? Did you use a broker?
  - jjcm 4y ago
    I started by visiting Hoi An. It's a tailoring town that's kinda also a tourist destination. Highly rec visiting as the food is good and you can get your entire wardrobe custom made in a couple days. After doing it a couple times I made friends with a tailor out there. I just contact her on facebook messenger and tell her what fabrics / what designs I want. You can go as custom as you want with it.
- avani 4y ago
  I'd love to hear more about your contact and process for this.
  - jjcm 4y ago
    Posted a reply above. Happy to answer q's!
- cco 4y ago
  Would you mind if I emailed you to ask a few questions about how you went about this?
rjsw 4y ago
Wearing a swag T-shirt right now.
ovex 4y ago
I am not a brand ambassador or a living billboard and some random company is not part of my identity, which is why I dislike wearing t-shirts with company logos.
screye 4y ago
I actively HATE most company swag. Clothing is the most universal & oldest manner in which most people express themselves. To tie your company to your identity so explicitly is unhealthy, and swag signals that to everyone within eyesight. My disdain most applies to every fashion with blocky company branding. There is a way to do swag tastefully. I love MSFT's patent cubes and laptop stickers, it stays limited to professional life. Useful electronic gifts (tablets, headphones) are great, because the branding is an organic part of the product you buy. Even clothing can work, if the branding is undetectable. (Themed around tech, but not the company). No, don't give me a 300$ Patagonia jacket or hiking bag with massive unremovable branding. I want to go climb my target mountain on it, and I do not want 'company name' plastered over some of my fondest memories. NO ONE has ever looked at a person wearing 'company brand' t-shirt and thought : "Gee, they must be smart, they work for big-name company'. This is further exacerbated by the fact that big name FANG+ companies are effectively in the business of advertisement and attention exploitation. As long as tech people keep wearing terribly fitted company swag for everyday activities, I can't sympathize with their complains about tech careers perceived negatively in the dating market. We brought this upon ourselves.
- c0mptonFP 4y ago
  I like my company and I think the logo looks cool. Simple as that. But according to you I have an unhealthy identity problem or longing for validation if I wear a t-shirt?
  - zeronine 4y ago
    correct
  - screye 4y ago
    I admittedly went a little overboard with the tone of my comment. I bet most people do not think as much about company swag. Why rain on your parade right ? I do think tech generally has an unhealthy problem of over-identifying with their company and that there is a certain insular monoculture resulting from it. At the end of the day, tech is situated within the greater social context around it. Any one who has their ears to the ground will know the most common complaints by young people in tech and how it ties into society's perception of young men in tech. I deeply respect anyone does not care about how society perceives them and can march on un-affected. At the same time, I see propagation of incorrect myths and resulting insecurities within younger tech workers. If you are an average human that's susceptible to all the common markers of status around them, then some counter to big-tech koolaid might be in order.
tqi 4y ago
Might be nice if people could read comment threads like this one and realize that there is no "right" answer to many questions, only individual opinions that live on a spectrum of individual opinions.
- anonymous_sorry 4y ago
  So you're saying our employers should ask us if we want swag before ordering it? Great idea!
  - tqi 4y ago
    I'm saying there isn't a single answer to the question that everyone will be happy about.
    - anonymous_sorry 4y ago
      So we should be treated as individuals and consulted by our employers before they make decisions on our behalf.
      - tqi 4y ago
        Sure, if that is possible.
keithnz 4y ago
or, you get to a certain level of popularity and you can sell your swag, like https://thegithubshop.com/ https://thegithubshop.com/ Going to Microsoft events in the late 90s, early 2000s I remember getting all kinds of good swag, webcams, toolkits, t-shrts, usb drives, headsets.
MangezBien 4y ago
I generally hate swag, but my company gave me a coffee mug that is the best mug I've ever used.
austinl 4y ago
A few of the Goodwills in San Francisco are full of company swag and it's kind of bizarre. Like hey, I could buy this Uber-branded Patagonia jacket having never worked there. Also weird in a way to subject less fortunate folks to wear company branded clothing, but I guess they don't have to buy it. On the other hand, it's also common (and somewhat strange) to see homeless in SF wearing company branded clothing that was donated.
bloodyplonker22 4y ago
The AWS re:Invent conference had great and easy-to-get swag when it first started. Almost every booth was giving away some type of swag with value comparable to a T-shirt. All you had to do was stop by the booth, and they'd gift you something, no questions asked. 10 years later, you go to any company's booth and they're making you jump through hoops, fill in forms, do quizzes and exercises and contests to get a T-shirt. Many booths are not offering anything. The only freebies are stickers and trinkets worth a few pennies. Even Amazon's own AWS hoodie, which they give out at every re:Invent conference, has decreased in quality, greatly. I remember one particular year, the hoodie was so thin and cheap that I gave it to a homeless person on the streets of Vegas. Over the course of many years at re:Invent, companies realized that the ROI on swag was extremely low, perhaps even negative.
- closewith 4y ago
  > I remember one particular year, the hoodie was so thin and cheap that I gave it to a homeless person on the streets of Vegas. Not good enough for you, but good enough for them?
  - bloodyplonker22 4y ago
    Stop trying to virtue signal, my friend. There are plenty of places such as Goodwill that will gladly take peoples' used clothes for donation.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
0des 4y ago
I'd rather they just not make swag and put that money into their employees so they can be happier and stick around longer. The best services I've used have the same faces when I need something. They build better projects that stay true to the core objectives.
caramelcustard 4y ago
To be honest, if the swag isn't related to what the company does, i'd be more interested in the manufacturer of the swag rather than the company that ordered it.
3qz 4y ago
Wearing tech swag is for people who use Android phones
- eternityforest 4y ago
  I love android and hate most swag for the same reason: I'm not a fan of lots of single purpose analog items around(Including clothes, save a few band and book shirts I really like), and Android does a great job of replacing gazillions of other items and being almost a general purpose computer.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
rsynnott 4y ago
As an extremely lazy person, I quite like the t-shirts, as they reduce the amount of clothes shopping I have to do. Also sometimes people get quite creative with them; I prefer the ones that aren't really identifiable as swag by the general public (which I suppose makes them... not conventional swag, really?)
- Ancalagon 4y ago
  I usually dislike the t shirts, they just scream lack of style to me You are right about the less-identifiable pieces though. A small logo on the shoulder or plain-colored, small name printed goes a long way
ylee 4y ago
The appeal of free stuff is eternal. While working for a large investment bank, I attended a presentation by a video game company. I well remember the huge crowd of people afterwards surrounding a table with goodies; very, very well-compensated Wall Street people pushing and shoving to get a free video game.
willis936 4y ago
What makes swag good? It's like gift giving: it's all about actually giving something someone wants. People like getting clothes. People love getting mugs. The Yeti mugs are nice, but what I really want is a ceramic square bottom mug. It tickles something deep in my lizard brain.
adav 4y ago
I have very fond memories of competitions with friends to see who could get the most free pens at careers fairs.
eternityforest 4y ago
I hate most swag. The only good swag is tiny stuff like a sticker or a carabiner or something. Maybe a shirt. But... I probably don't like your tech enough to wear it. Stickers are purely decorative, low environmental footprint, and unobtrusive mentally. Although the permanence of sticking makes them a bit less collectible, and I'd like it something like Velcro patches got popular. Headphones? No. Absolutely not. I have Anker bluetooth earbuds. I do not want your crap without active noise cancellation risking my hearing if I actually try to use it. Keychain flashlight? No. I do not want crap to carry around. It's dim and non-rechargable. Water bottles? Better be self cleaning with UV light and vacuum insulated. Pens? I rarely use them. When I do it's for less than 30 seconds. Cheap ballpoints can dry up even if not used, so it's not like I want to have a bunch randomly lying around "just in case" that won't work in a month when I actually want one. I have a pile of at like 6 jackets worn once or never that I got as gifts. Lots of random multitools and crap like that. I. Do. Not. Want. It. I don't even make much money. If I was making 40k+ a year I would want them even less. I will not bog down my life with little bits of 20 years outdated low tech junk. Especially not from a tech company. I can maybe see mugs. But... only because sometimes I'm lazy about washing the dishes, and having more makes it easier to go longer in between....
- wdb 4y ago
  Interesting I find stickers pointless; prefer a shirt that I can use as pajamas or a tea mug.
deepsquirrelnet 4y ago
Two words to express my opinion: OPT OUT. Nothing chaps my ass like getting a box of landfill shit I didn’t ask for in the mail. Now I have to try to figure out how to deal with it in an environmentally responsible way. I’m haunted by the endless piles of free XL-sized shirts I’ve gotten in my lifetime, because if you just order them big enough they’ll “fit” everybody, right? Or maybe I’ll replace the nice things that I’ve purchased, specifically to avoid buying the made-for-landfill nick nacks that I’d have to discard and replace every year. Great design choice on that cheap aluminum alloy bottle opener. Surely it will hold up to repeated cranks against steel bottle caps without marring… Perhaps I should retire the weighty iron one that my buddy the blacksmith made for me that will probably outlive the liquid distribution method that necessitated its existence. I think not.
unintendedcons 4y ago
I consult on swag design, and its easy to stand out because most swag is trash. I have gotten some good swag over the years, but the best was a set of sturdy metal pen/stylus/flashlight combo pens from a company who sells corporate document storage services I have not yet had a need for.
unintendedcons 4y ago
High quality shirts IN THE RIGHT SIZE are never trash

50 points by jasoneckert 4y ago

My swag lesson: everyone likes bottle openers! But international travellers can't take pointy/blady things back in hand luggage. I had a lot of those things left over after that show.

carabiner 4y ago
Do they really? I'd think everyone who drinks already has a couple. I've got two at all times (one that's part of a multitool, and a separate titanium one from a Kickstarter).
jaredsohn 4y ago
>everyone likes bottle openers I have no use for one. Haven't opened a bottle in a few years now. And maybe have done so at most 30 times throughout my life. (Don't drink soda and rarely drink alcohol.)
- xhkkffbf 4y ago
  Most of the alcohol these days has pull tabs or twist tops. There was a time when the companies tried to pretend that old bottles with old caps were somehow better but I think that urge has faded.
  - tom_ 4y ago
    Untrue for bottled beer in the uk!
  - fleddr 4y ago
    Not true in the Netherlands, which is why the average dutch person can open a bottle of beer with various objects, such as a lighter, keys, anything small and stiff, tabletop or teeth.
    - 0des 4y ago
      nokia will always have a special place in my heart
macksd 4y ago
I certainly don't, and I would like them even less if multiple companies were sticking them in my hand at a trade show. I think generally the tech industry could do with less focus on alcohol. I don't drink, but I used to be okay with going to socialize with coworkers at a happy hour. But it doesn't take very long to tire of leadership talking about inclusivity, and then only planning alcohol-focused team events, when they all know I'm not into it. But more to the point: a lot of harmful stuff happens to your team when everyone is drunk. It's hard to work with someone who threw up in your Uber the night before. I don't know why some companies keep rolling those dice.
- happyopossum 4y ago
  > a lot of harmful stuff happens to your team when everyone is drunk As you've proven, having alcohol based events doesn't require anyone (and def not everyone) to get drunk. > It's hard to work with someone who threw up in your Uber the night before You clearly have some issues with people who drink to excess. That's your prerogative, so maybe you should work with different people.
  - macksd 4y ago
    And how many different companies should I work at before I conclude that the industry in general could use a change and that it's not me that needs to make changes?
  - el_benhameen 4y ago
    Wait, what? I drink sometimes, I don’t mind events with drinking, but I would never think to drink the point of throwing up at a work event and would absolutely disapprove of anyone who does. Rather than asking people to filter companies based on the most noxious behavior from the most irresponsible team member, why not enforce a minimum bar for acceptable behavior? It’s not like puking is a job duty.
  - bawolff 4y ago
    > You clearly have some issues with people who drink to excess. That's your prerogative, so maybe you should work with different people. Wtf? That's definitely not on the poster. I don't have a problem with an (optional) work happy hour, but its still work and a base level of professionalism is expected. People drinking to excess at work events is a major red flag for the company.
ryukafalz 4y ago
Yeah, this reminds me of one of the swag items at KubeCon a few years ago. Someone was giving out DevOps Magic 8 Balls. My first thought: “oh that’s fun!” My second thought: “wait this is annoying to get back home on the flight.”

onion2k 4y ago

As a counterpoint, I flat out refuse to buy anything from any company that gives out plastic destined-to-spend-1000-years-in-landfill crap. Spend your marketing budget funding open source project maintainers on the other hand, and I will listen.

iLoveOncall 4y ago
So you aren't buying anything from any company ever? I'm pretty sure there isn't a single company that has been alive for a year and hasn't distributed some branded pens or other crappy items like that.

csomar 4y ago

My most favorite is Lufthansa USB drive: https://webimg.secondhandapp.at/w-i-mgl/6107ec05459d38277e6bbf0c https://webimg.secondhandapp.at/w-i-mgl/6107ec05459d38277e6b... It has very nice and slick look, and is actually very useful.

standardUser 4y ago

It's true some swag has endeared me to companies, like my awesome, color-changing Weather Underground mug. But the vast, vast majority is low-quality garbage that I wish never existed, and certainly wish never become my burden to dispose of. I say, aim for a tiny amount of high-quality swag. Or hell, just give people branded gift cards!

toomuchtodo 4y ago
Comfy T-shirts are always welcome swag.
- closewith 4y ago
  Not always welcome - I certainly decline or recycle all the branded clothing I get. Better if it was never made.
  - 1-more 4y ago
    I won a trip to a conference in Las Vegas. I didn't want to go but it was made clear that I couldn't turn it down. Looking around and just seeing the oceans of garbage being made to hand out to people who didn't want or need it on top of everything else that horrifies me about Las Vegas put me in a really awful mood.
- standardUser 4y ago
  For me, those are PJ shirts at best. But most swag shirts aren't that comfy!
- pamelafox 4y ago
  FYI- I can't currently wear t-shirts since I've been either pregnant or nursing for the last 3 years. T-shirts aren't compatible with pregnant/nursing bodies, so I just decline them or immediately give them away when I receive them. Zip-ups are actually the most compatible, of all the clothing swag, and my partner can attest to how frequently I steal his swaggy zip-ups. :) Generally I think that if there is going to be swag given away, people should get to opt in to swag or such swag should be wholly biodegradable.

ramesh31 4y ago

The key with t-shirts is quality. Spend the extra $5 a piece for screen printed American Apparel, and I'll wear that thing every day until it has holes. But random cheap shirts go straight to the trash.

xhkkffbf 4y ago
Hanes Beefy T for me. AA stuff is too trendy. I need something that can handle some wear and tear.

post_break 4y ago

I have a very nice yeti cup company from a certain company. Use it daily. The company had a super serious data breach so we didn't use them and it makes me think about it from time to time.

cookiengineer 4y ago

I usually don't like conference swag because most of the stuff is honestly useless anyways. We all have probably thousands of pens, pencils and blocks of paper by now. Not to mention all the stickers that get thrown away immediately. The only time I was jealous of other conference attendees was when they ran out of a multi-USB adapter set that was given out as branded swag. Weeks of looking online later I finally found the manufacturer: van maehlen and its allroundo sets. [1] I instantly bought it and it's since been always in my backpack. The only other swag I still have and actively use is a rubberducky and a teensy ;) [1] https://www.vonmaehlen.com/allroundo-c https://www.vonmaehlen.com/allroundo-c

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

baron816 4y ago

I had the opportunity to get a very high quality leather bomber jacket for my division at my company. The thing probably cost the company over $1k. I decided not to take it since I probably would’ve never worn it and didn’t want to waste such a beautiful thing.

boopboopbadoop 4y ago
I bet your manager and/or peers looked at you like you were a blasphemer. I don’t know how it became normal to want to advertise for an employer. Good for you, I would have done the same.

jjcm 4y ago

If anyone is interested in leveling up their swag at the expense of time, going directly to tailors in Asia (I use Vietnam) can massively increase the quality, while providing the same expense and delivering more money to those who make your clothes. For the same price as a sweater with a logo on it, I got bespoke wool pea coats made for everyone on my team (made to fit to their measurements), with custom printed lining and an embroidered subtle logo on it. Final cost with shipping was about $70pp. Tailor made clothes look so much better and it makes people want to wear them more. The cost was time - it's about a 2mo turnaround and you'll be looking at about 8 hrs of spend on your end coordinating things.

CharlesW 4y ago
That's really interesting. How does one even start? Are there any guides? Did you use a broker?
- jjcm 4y ago
  I started by visiting Hoi An. It's a tailoring town that's kinda also a tourist destination. Highly rec visiting as the food is good and you can get your entire wardrobe custom made in a couple days. After doing it a couple times I made friends with a tailor out there. I just contact her on facebook messenger and tell her what fabrics / what designs I want. You can go as custom as you want with it.
avani 4y ago
I'd love to hear more about your contact and process for this.
- jjcm 4y ago
  Posted a reply above. Happy to answer q's!
cco 4y ago
Would you mind if I emailed you to ask a few questions about how you went about this?

rjsw 4y ago

Wearing a swag T-shirt right now.

ovex 4y ago

I am not a brand ambassador or a living billboard and some random company is not part of my identity, which is why I dislike wearing t-shirts with company logos.

screye 4y ago

I actively HATE most company swag. Clothing is the most universal & oldest manner in which most people express themselves. To tie your company to your identity so explicitly is unhealthy, and swag signals that to everyone within eyesight. My disdain most applies to every fashion with blocky company branding. There is a way to do swag tastefully. I love MSFT's patent cubes and laptop stickers, it stays limited to professional life. Useful electronic gifts (tablets, headphones) are great, because the branding is an organic part of the product you buy. Even clothing can work, if the branding is undetectable. (Themed around tech, but not the company). No, don't give me a 300$ Patagonia jacket or hiking bag with massive unremovable branding. I want to go climb my target mountain on it, and I do not want 'company name' plastered over some of my fondest memories. NO ONE has ever looked at a person wearing 'company brand' t-shirt and thought : "Gee, they must be smart, they work for big-name company'. This is further exacerbated by the fact that big name FANG+ companies are effectively in the business of advertisement and attention exploitation. As long as tech people keep wearing terribly fitted company swag for everyday activities, I can't sympathize with their complains about tech careers perceived negatively in the dating market. We brought this upon ourselves.

c0mptonFP 4y ago
I like my company and I think the logo looks cool. Simple as that. But according to you I have an unhealthy identity problem or longing for validation if I wear a t-shirt?
- zeronine 4y ago
  correct
- screye 4y ago
  I admittedly went a little overboard with the tone of my comment. I bet most people do not think as much about company swag. Why rain on your parade right ? I do think tech generally has an unhealthy problem of over-identifying with their company and that there is a certain insular monoculture resulting from it. At the end of the day, tech is situated within the greater social context around it. Any one who has their ears to the ground will know the most common complaints by young people in tech and how it ties into society's perception of young men in tech. I deeply respect anyone does not care about how society perceives them and can march on un-affected. At the same time, I see propagation of incorrect myths and resulting insecurities within younger tech workers. If you are an average human that's susceptible to all the common markers of status around them, then some counter to big-tech koolaid might be in order.

tqi 4y ago

Might be nice if people could read comment threads like this one and realize that there is no "right" answer to many questions, only individual opinions that live on a spectrum of individual opinions.

anonymous_sorry 4y ago
So you're saying our employers should ask us if we want swag before ordering it? Great idea!
- tqi 4y ago
  I'm saying there isn't a single answer to the question that everyone will be happy about.
  - anonymous_sorry 4y ago
    So we should be treated as individuals and consulted by our employers before they make decisions on our behalf.
    - tqi 4y ago
      Sure, if that is possible.

keithnz 4y ago

or, you get to a certain level of popularity and you can sell your swag, like https://thegithubshop.com/ https://thegithubshop.com/ Going to Microsoft events in the late 90s, early 2000s I remember getting all kinds of good swag, webcams, toolkits, t-shrts, usb drives, headsets.

MangezBien 4y ago

I generally hate swag, but my company gave me a coffee mug that is the best mug I've ever used.

austinl 4y ago

A few of the Goodwills in San Francisco are full of company swag and it's kind of bizarre. Like hey, I could buy this Uber-branded Patagonia jacket having never worked there. Also weird in a way to subject less fortunate folks to wear company branded clothing, but I guess they don't have to buy it. On the other hand, it's also common (and somewhat strange) to see homeless in SF wearing company branded clothing that was donated.

bloodyplonker22 4y ago

The AWS re:Invent conference had great and easy-to-get swag when it first started. Almost every booth was giving away some type of swag with value comparable to a T-shirt. All you had to do was stop by the booth, and they'd gift you something, no questions asked. 10 years later, you go to any company's booth and they're making you jump through hoops, fill in forms, do quizzes and exercises and contests to get a T-shirt. Many booths are not offering anything. The only freebies are stickers and trinkets worth a few pennies. Even Amazon's own AWS hoodie, which they give out at every re:Invent conference, has decreased in quality, greatly. I remember one particular year, the hoodie was so thin and cheap that I gave it to a homeless person on the streets of Vegas. Over the course of many years at re:Invent, companies realized that the ROI on swag was extremely low, perhaps even negative.

closewith 4y ago
> I remember one particular year, the hoodie was so thin and cheap that I gave it to a homeless person on the streets of Vegas. Not good enough for you, but good enough for them?
- bloodyplonker22 4y ago
  Stop trying to virtue signal, my friend. There are plenty of places such as Goodwill that will gladly take peoples' used clothes for donation.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

0des 4y ago

I'd rather they just not make swag and put that money into their employees so they can be happier and stick around longer. The best services I've used have the same faces when I need something. They build better projects that stay true to the core objectives.

caramelcustard 4y ago

To be honest, if the swag isn't related to what the company does, i'd be more interested in the manufacturer of the swag rather than the company that ordered it.

3qz 4y ago

Wearing tech swag is for people who use Android phones

eternityforest 4y ago
I love android and hate most swag for the same reason: I'm not a fan of lots of single purpose analog items around(Including clothes, save a few band and book shirts I really like), and Android does a great job of replacing gazillions of other items and being almost a general purpose computer.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

rsynnott 4y ago

As an extremely lazy person, I quite like the t-shirts, as they reduce the amount of clothes shopping I have to do. Also sometimes people get quite creative with them; I prefer the ones that aren't really identifiable as swag by the general public (which I suppose makes them... not conventional swag, really?)

Ancalagon 4y ago
I usually dislike the t shirts, they just scream lack of style to me You are right about the less-identifiable pieces though. A small logo on the shoulder or plain-colored, small name printed goes a long way

ylee 4y ago

The appeal of free stuff is eternal. While working for a large investment bank, I attended a presentation by a video game company. I well remember the huge crowd of people afterwards surrounding a table with goodies; very, very well-compensated Wall Street people pushing and shoving to get a free video game.

willis936 4y ago

What makes swag good? It's like gift giving: it's all about actually giving something someone wants. People like getting clothes. People love getting mugs. The Yeti mugs are nice, but what I really want is a ceramic square bottom mug. It tickles something deep in my lizard brain.

adav 4y ago

I have very fond memories of competitions with friends to see who could get the most free pens at careers fairs.

eternityforest 4y ago

I hate most swag. The only good swag is tiny stuff like a sticker or a carabiner or something. Maybe a shirt. But... I probably don't like your tech enough to wear it. Stickers are purely decorative, low environmental footprint, and unobtrusive mentally. Although the permanence of sticking makes them a bit less collectible, and I'd like it something like Velcro patches got popular. Headphones? No. Absolutely not. I have Anker bluetooth earbuds. I do not want your crap without active noise cancellation risking my hearing if I actually try to use it. Keychain flashlight? No. I do not want crap to carry around. It's dim and non-rechargable. Water bottles? Better be self cleaning with UV light and vacuum insulated. Pens? I rarely use them. When I do it's for less than 30 seconds. Cheap ballpoints can dry up even if not used, so it's not like I want to have a bunch randomly lying around "just in case" that won't work in a month when I actually want one. I have a pile of at like 6 jackets worn once or never that I got as gifts. Lots of random multitools and crap like that. I. Do. Not. Want. It. I don't even make much money. If I was making 40k+ a year I would want them even less. I will not bog down my life with little bits of 20 years outdated low tech junk. Especially not from a tech company. I can maybe see mugs. But... only because sometimes I'm lazy about washing the dishes, and having more makes it easier to go longer in between....

wdb 4y ago
Interesting I find stickers pointless; prefer a shirt that I can use as pajamas or a tea mug.

deepsquirrelnet 4y ago

Two words to express my opinion: OPT OUT. Nothing chaps my ass like getting a box of landfill shit I didn’t ask for in the mail. Now I have to try to figure out how to deal with it in an environmentally responsible way. I’m haunted by the endless piles of free XL-sized shirts I’ve gotten in my lifetime, because if you just order them big enough they’ll “fit” everybody, right? Or maybe I’ll replace the nice things that I’ve purchased, specifically to avoid buying the made-for-landfill nick nacks that I’d have to discard and replace every year. Great design choice on that cheap aluminum alloy bottle opener. Surely it will hold up to repeated cranks against steel bottle caps without marring… Perhaps I should retire the weighty iron one that my buddy the blacksmith made for me that will probably outlive the liquid distribution method that necessitated its existence. I think not.

unintendedcons 4y ago

I consult on swag design, and its easy to stand out because most swag is trash. I have gotten some good swag over the years, but the best was a set of sturdy metal pen/stylus/flashlight combo pens from a company who sells corporate document storage services I have not yet had a need for.

unintendedcons 4y ago

High quality shirts IN THE RIGHT SIZE are never trash