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>Do you/your tech writing employees have a dress code? I honestly think
>having one goes a long way toward respect for the profession and department.
>The more important personnel dress nicely. I can't help wondering if
Depends on your personal style, and what you're trying to accomplish. A while
back, I was in a position that involved doing significant amounts of
stand-up training of programmers. There was another man doing the same
courses. He prefered wearing a suit, and that worked with his style. I
prefered "business casual" with the mods of wearing a full buttoned shirt
(no polos), but usually short sleeved and sans tie after the first half
day. By the end of a week's course, I'd usually have even EDS folk dressing
casually. My reasons for doing so were 1) I taught better when I was
comfortable and 2) I felt dressing formally distanced myself from my
programmer audience.
Our boss' take? She once told me "You and he have completely different
teaching and dress styles...but both of you consistently get excellent
evaluations and comments so I figure you're both doing what works best for you
and it results in good classes."
In my positions, I've consistently worked closely with hardcore
programmers. In addition to my being comfortable in t-shirt and jeans, if I
dressed up I'd be distancing myself from how they dress. Yes, if I'm doing
a public presentation, or meeting customers, I'll spiff up. But given that
my manager is wearing a t-shirt with a slogan on it and jeans, I think I
can manage to dress casually. :-)
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