
The Programming Women’s Dress Code - dustyreagan
http://dustyreagan.com/the-programming-womens-dress-code/
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arithmetic
>But, with the exception of a rare few, it seems that neither male nor female
programmers give a rat’s ass about fashion.

Being what this post would refer to as a "programming woman", I can attest to
this. And I think this is one of the primary reasons I (and other women I know
in the computer industry) got drawn into computers - no one cares what you
look like or where you're from. Heck, most people in your industry might not
even see you physically. You don't have to dress up (if you do, that's totally
fine). That's just crazy cool for an introverted nerd.

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aohtsab
>But, with the exception of a rare few, it seems that neither male nor female
programmers give a rat’s ass about fashion.

Fantastic. My sister got on my case about not dressing up or, as she called
it, 'showing off my body'. You're only young once, she said.

Which, I said, is why I don't want to waste my time thinking about clothes
when I'd rather program. Sure, I occasionally like dressing up, but I really
could care less about whether my outfits are new and original each day.

Also, nothing is more insulting than going to a programming meeting, throwing
in my 2 cents, and having a guy come up to me afterwards only to comment on my
earrings.

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gojomo
Wow, Steve Jobs even stole the black turtleneck look from Adele Goldberg!

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whyenot
Well, stole might be too strong a word. Erm, I guess you could say he xerox'd
her look.

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mkramlich
I see what you did there.

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sliverstorm
"But, with the exception of a rare few, it seems that neither male nor female
programmers give a rat’s ass about fashion"

Yup. In the end, nobody can tell whether or not you were wearing a pinstripe
suit when they examine your most recent commit.

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bmelton
I always make sure to leave little details like that in my comments. ;-)

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astine
_//Feb 08, 2010 - Rewrote the XML parser to use a proper SAX API - Suit._

 _//Feb 9, 2010 - Refactored the lexer code - T-shirt and jeans._

 _//Feb 12, 2010 - Rewrote much of module b to remove extra loops to make it
more efficient , added security features to the web front-end, solved the
halting problem - Naked_

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calcnerd256
The halting problem isn't open to be solved. It would have been funnier to
claim to have solved an open problem (maybe P=NP?) so as not to break the
willful suspension of disbelief.

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jafl5272
> So, what have we learned about the woman programmer’s dress code? Unlike the
> men’s dress code, beards are not in fashion

Thank goodness!

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ladyada
Shafi is a mathematician/computer scientist, and Jepsen and Ellsworth are not
programmers - they are engineers!

Go engineers! Our wrists hurt less!

~~~
alnayyir
I don't think the distinction between engineer and programmer is incredibly
meaningful unless we're discussing

1\. People with professional qualifications (I mean licensed engineers, ie
Canada/UK)

2\. You're comparing 'engineers' against blub Java coders

(In which case I'd agree, they're not engineers)

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eru
I actually dislike the job-title engineer. Programmer would be fine.

But that's because I come from a country where that word has a meaning.

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Legion
Between this article and the men's one, Ada Lovelace definitely wins the best
dressed contest.

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astrec
Indeed.

As a point of interest Ada Lovelace was Byron's only _legitimate_ child, but
he is known to be father of one other, and presumed (with varying degrees of
certainty) father of two more.

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ryanjmo
Shafi, is my Dissertation Advisor's Advisor. That makes her my Grand Advisor
or something like that in Academic terms.

I like this quote "I can’t even begin to understand what this means in
English, but it sounds impressive doesn’t it?", this is pretty much what I get
whenever I try to explain to people what my PhD is in... ha.

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Dove
> Fine Victorian era gowns are in

Sweet. I've always wanted an excuse to wear one.

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javajones
My office had the usual dress causal atmosphere until one day our new manager
decided to make his mark by having dress up Wednesdays. So I decided to wear a
formal complete with gloves(glad to know Ada did it too). I was the belle of
the ball. I no longer work there but the guys have continued the tradition in
my honor and dress in tales and top hats. :)

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mahmud
Grace Hopper is famous for something other than programming. I can't remember
where, but I have seen her being quoted in a political article about strategy.
I wish I had jotted it down.

Any military/polysci types able to shed some light on this?

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thwarted
Do you see it here? I don't see anything about strategy specifically.
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper>

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johnroescher
Great post!

