Its much worse for female programmers. No matter how you choose to dress or do your hair you ALWAYS get the incredulous "YOU"RE A PROGRAMMER!?" reactions. ALWAY

Its much worse for female programmers. No matter how you choose to dress or do your hair you ALWAYS get the incredulous "YOU"RE A PROGRAMMER!?" reactions. ALWAYS. It sucks, I get it, but nothing really comes from letting it drive you insane. The way I see it, the only thing you can really do about it is don't perpetuate the label. - Don't give other people the "YOU"RE A PROGRAMMER!?" line or or incredulous look based on the way they look. Judge other programmers solely on their ability to code. (You know, the standard "Be the change you want to see" line...) - Keep dressing however you like and doing what you love. If you're good at what you do, then people will notice and stop caring about how you dress/look. Changing stereotypes doesn't happen overnight so there's no point in getting upset over it. Wasting time by letting it get under your skin is only going to ultimately hurt you by being a distraction from the things that matter.