Nope, I'm 43 (yeah who let the old guy in here???).
Maybe it's because I'm 43 that I have the opposite view of this; growing up in the 80's and seeing what kind of people wore suits (aka the 'greed is good' crowd), that probably had a negative affect on me. There is also Dr. Johnny Fever (WKRP anyone?) and his compelling 'Suits Versus the Dungarees' argument (sorry couldn't resist an obscure 80's ref...).
But I want to STRESS I would never not hire or hire someone based on this - I just think ones appearance helps give you another factor at evaluating a potential hire.
I loved that show! And MASH. We're about the same generation.
No I actually agree with you that the suit doesn't convey anything substantive, and if a programmer wore that today to an interview I'd find it suspicious because, at the very least, it means he/she is out of touch and maybe desperate. But that said, if the person has the technical skills to do the job, and is not a jerk, and is available and interested, that should count 99.9999% and whether they wears a suit or not shouldn't counteract those other factors.
If I was holding an interview for the role of bankster, that would be different.
Tangent Note: I can "play" the SWAT theme song in my mind, note for note. And MASH, Love Boat, Cheers, etc. I remember when TV show theme songs went into a dark ages roughly around the the 90's where they stopped having cool theme music anymore, especially long instrumental ones. There were a few cool exceptions, but for the most part the art seemed to be lost. I don't watch TV anymore, so perhaps it came back.
ps. I'm in Colorado too. We should hold a HN meetup sometime, I know of at least a few others in the Front Range area.
Hey cool on the HN meetup colorado idea. I've been wondering if there were enough to do one here. My email is on my profile, let's chat about setting this up.
Maybe it's because I'm 43 that I have the opposite view of this; growing up in the 80's and seeing what kind of people wore suits (aka the 'greed is good' crowd), that probably had a negative affect on me. There is also Dr. Johnny Fever (WKRP anyone?) and his compelling 'Suits Versus the Dungarees' argument (sorry couldn't resist an obscure 80's ref...).
But I want to STRESS I would never not hire or hire someone based on this - I just think ones appearance helps give you another factor at evaluating a potential hire.