Is a beard unprofessional for NYC tech roles?

23 comments

1. No, not unprofessional as long as it is well-kempt and tidy

2. You are fine as long as you don’t look like a hobo

3. Nah. It’s fine. I work in tech.

   If it’s corporate IT, neat and tidy.

   A bit if counter programming. If you are a developer and are really good, get some character to it. You want to establish a brand.

   I call on executives at big companies in jeans, sneakers, tshirt and a jacket. I’m in a leading area of tech and customers look to us for advice. I am good at what I do, but when I walk in a room everyone is either thinking I’m an idiot or so confident about my ability that I’m willing to wear jeans, sneakers, casual shirts and a jacket. (Granted, all of those things are very nice)

   Read the culture and your role, but don’t be afraid to stand out.

4. A die-hard military lifer would say yes, but this is 2023 and beards are not unprofessional in the real world.

5. As long as it’s tidy it’s fine. Unless you’re going Fintech and wind up with an uptight office software/IT tends to be one of the most relaxed industries anyway.

6. What color of beard? A colleague of mine used to dye his different colors. Fire engine red, pink, bright blue, and I don’t remember anyone asking him to stop. I think he just got bored with the upkeep.

   This is pretty software specific though, other industries still seem to be okay with beards but expect them to be shorter and of human natural colors.

7. Tech is known for being a particularly laid back industry, it should be fine.

8. I think any length beard is fine in professional roles these days. It’s more important that it is groomed and maintained

9. I’m a software dev manager at a fairly conservative company and have a medium beard. Two of my devs have big wild beards and are excellent at their jobs . Nobody minds because we all meet or exceed our project commitments.

10. No.

11. It’s unprofessional for the New York Yankees. Don’t know about the rest of New York though.

12. I wouldn’t be surprised at IT jobs at big law firms or financial firms having such requirements, though it’s likely much less.

    But I’ve always been at software companies, and we had guys with full beards and sandals back in the early 80s, and probably earlier. I’ve never had a software job where I couldn’t wear shorts and a t-shirt in summer and jeans in winter (other than customer visits). And that’s all been the greater Boston area, and about 40 years.

13. I thought it was a requirement at this point

14. Thick beards are pretty common in tech and on young professions in general in all fields now.

15. I work as a geoscientist in the lab and I have beards like most of the older guys on my team. The beard doesn’t matter. I worked with DB technician that could be Santa Claus with his white beard.

16. Just trim it and you’re good.

    I’d be jealous. I grow a pitiful beard.

17. I would think these days it’s a prerequisite.

18. I’m more curious where someone told you this, since it’s not anywhere near something I have ever heard of as a long time resident of nyc myself.

19. If the job is attached to traditional finance/insurance/law I’d probably try to have a somewhat put together appearance. I don’t think you need to kill the beard, but if it’s pretty big/bushy I’d probably make sure the rest of your appearance is well put together for the interview – and you should probably break out the suit (for the interview, not the actual job).

    If it’s any other area of tech work – do whatever, doesn’t matter much, business casual is fine for the interview.

20. Most techies look homeless it’s fine

21. At this point I don’t think there are any real professional standards when it comes to tech beyond getting your work done on time.

22. I am a software engineer in NJ, not in NYC myself (I’m near Philadelphia).

    I have friends working in NYC whose fashion style can only be described as “hobo jesus”. Beard, weird mismatched clothes with holes in it, faint wafting scent of cheetos, the whole nine yards. No problems getting employment in general. The most hobo among them didn’t gel with wall street banks and HFT firms, but more general roles don’t care that much.

23. I’m not in a bigger city, but I am in IT. In my experience, the *majority* of developers and IT guys have beards these days.