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MC Fruit Stripe
Nov 26, 2002

around and around we go
Wear a suit to an interview because you are not 17 years old.

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Wizard of the Deep
Sep 25, 2005

Another productive workday
Suitchat: I just got out of an interview (thanks, ConfusedUs!) where I walked in in a nice pair of chinos and a nice navy blazer, and I may have been the most formally-dressed person in the office. The only reason I didn't suit the hell out for the interview was because I had to fly in from out of town, and thankfully they told me business casual before hand.

EDIT: JUST chinos and blazer. Gonna get the job with my impressive chest hair and more-impressive hobbit feet.

Inspector_666
Oct 7, 2003

benny with the good hair

NippleFloss posted:

Wear slacks and a long sleeve dress shirt, look clean and presentable and you'll be fine in 99.99 percent of interviews. If you've already got a nice suit feel free to wear it, but don't go spend hundreds of dollars on one for an interview.

I would say that if you're old enough that your parents aren't dressing you for "big things" you should own a suit anyway.

angry armadillo
Jul 26, 2010
I go to work in shirt and tie, it seems to help with being young, not that it should matter but it's my preference. Uniform is just a polo shirt but I like a tie.


Working in my IT department this week includes the risk manager telling me to deploy non-compliant systems then getting told off for not using change management processes that he signs off.

When I say telling me to do this I mean setting deadlines of end of the month to roll out a currently non-existent network (and applications) to approx 400 staff

If I had actually done this I would have been butt hosed by the change management board and the risk manager would have claimed to have only suggested that I did it (he has previous)

Whilst he was doing this he told my site director (amongst other senior management) the network was actually in place. Luckily someone equally senior to the risk manager stepped in and told him to shut up ( essentially)

The risk manager then said fine but if the network isn't there you must be non-compliant with some wider business processes which caused an amusing element of panic this morning

Interestingly it did reveal a number of middle managers who have basically sat with no access to things they should be reviewing and instead of approaching IT and saying how do I access x y or z? They've decided to twiddle their thumbs and do nothing.

Oh politics!

three
Aug 9, 2007

i fantasize about ndamukong suh licking my doodoo hole

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

Wear a suit to an interview because you are not 17 years old.

But I want to be cool.

YOLOsubmarine
Oct 19, 2004

When asked which Pokemon he evolved into, Kamara pauses.

"Motherfucking, what's that big dragon shit? That orange motherfucker. Charizard."

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

Wear a suit to an interview because you are not 17 years old.

I've literally never worn a suit to an interview and also only had one person wear a suit to an interview with me. It's not a law firm or a bank. Would you suggest that a woman should wear a formal dress to an interview? If not, then why not?

Seriously, just look loving presentable. Look like you wouldn't be out of place at church or at an upscale restaurant. The actual clothes are much less important than the overall impression of being clean, organized, well groomed, and capable of dressing yourself like a functional adult and not an a gross manchild. No one here has ever lost a job because they weren't wearing a suit for a job where the dress code probably tops out at dockers and a polo.

SamDabbers
May 26, 2003



NippleFloss posted:

The actual clothes are much less important than the overall impression of being clean, organized, well groomed, and capable of dressing yourself like a functional adult and not an a gross manchild.

Well, no job's worth shaving my magnificent neckbeard, but I suppose I could shower and wear something with fewer food stains to make a good first impression.

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

You have to get a feel for the place you're applying. East coast is more conservative than west, job function makes a difference as well. A finance or HR person I would expect to show up in a suit. IT or Programmer I would expect non jean pants, a button down collared shirt and good shoes with a tie being optional.

You can't go wrong with a nice pair of slacks, a clean crisp button down shirt, good leather shoes, and maybe a tie. Since you all are a bunch of goony bastards, clothing items should be clean, pressed, and fit well. It helps present an overall positive image. Seriously though, make sure the clothes fit properly. Too big/tight shirts, too long pants, inappropriate shoes.. they can make someone look less put together than they intended too.

It is always funny seeing programmer interviewees talking to the guys wearing t-shirts and flip flops.

skipdogg fucked around with this message at 23:59 on Aug 7, 2014

Cenodoxus
Mar 29, 2012

while [[ true ]] ; do
    pour()
done


NippleFloss posted:

Would you suggest that a woman should wear a formal dress to an interview? If not, then why not?
I would not, because they make suits for women.

To a point you're correct that looking presentable is a big part of it, but a big component of your presentation in an interview is looking professional, and a great majority of society views suits as very acceptable professional attire. It stands to reason that a company that views slacks and a shirt as acceptable interview attire would view a suit as being just as acceptable, if not more. So why not play it safe and just go for the suit? In case you forgot, you're competing against other candidates, some of whom probably wore a suit.

The venn diagram of "Companies I want to work for" and "Companies who won't hire me because I wore a suit to the interview" doesn't overlap.

George H.W. Cunt
Oct 6, 2010





I work in a jail and wear the same lovely khakis and polo every day because jail smells like bad easy mac and despair. I went to the interview in a suit. Wear a suit this is easy stuff.

Wrath of the Bitch King
May 11, 2005

Research confirms that black is a color like silver is a color, and that beyond black is clarity.
It definitely varies place to place. The more corporate, the more there is a need for a suit. Even if its a "cooler" or more laid back place the perception of suit-need can vary from person to person.

Recently I interviewed for a software company about 40 minutes away from where I live. I walked through their building coming straight from my own job, so wearing nice Polo w/ appropriate shoes, khakis, belt, etc. Dudes were lounging around in sandals, shorts, and flying R/C helicopters. No one cared about me not wearing a suit...except 1 person out of the 7 people who individually interviewed me. It wasn't a deal breaker and I feel like I'll hear positive news soon, but this guy was not dressed casual like the others and played it strictly professional. He clearly had a problem.

Christ that day was brutal...3.5 hours of interviewing and being grilled for technical knowledge.

Fiendish Dr. Wu
Nov 11, 2010

You done fucked up now!

SamDabbers posted:

Well, no job's worth shaving my magnificent neckbeard, but I suppose I could shower and wear something with fewer food stains to make a good first impression.

Although my beard may not be as magnificent or cover as much of my neck as yours, this is how I feel.

SaltLick posted:

I work in a jail and wear the same lovely khakis and polo every day because jail smells like bad easy mac and despair. I went to the interview in a suit. Wear a suit this is easy stuff.

Working in It 3.0: smells like bad easy mac and despair

YOLOsubmarine
Oct 19, 2004

When asked which Pokemon he evolved into, Kamara pauses.

"Motherfucking, what's that big dragon shit? That orange motherfucker. Charizard."

SaltLick posted:

I work in a jail and wear the same lovely khakis and polo every day because jail smells like bad easy mac and despair. I went to the interview in a suit. Wear a suit this is easy stuff.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to work in a foul smelling jail though...

skipdogg posted:

You can't go wrong with a nice pair of slacks, a clean crisp button down shirt, good leather shoes, and maybe a tie. Since you all are a bunch of goony bastards, clothing items should be clean, pressed, and fit well. It helps present an overall positive image. Seriously though, make sure the clothes fit properly. Too big/tight shirts, too long pants, inappropriate shoes.. they can make someone look less put together than they intended too.

This is good advice. If you're wearing an ill fitting suit that you haven't donned since 30 pounds ago then you're worse off than if you wore something less formal that fit you better. If you're wearing a suit but you've got a horrible gross beard, or ratty hair, or you smell weird, or your shoes or tie don't match your suit or you just look generally schlubby then you're not doing yourself any favors. The "ALWAYS WEAR A SUIT" thing seems like another instance of people treating IT folks as barely functional aspies that can't be trusted to pick up on basic social cues like appropriate work attire for the position for which they are applying. A suit is meant to be the safest possible choice that even a social retard can't screw up (which is definitely note true). I've also been the guy in a t-shirt interviewing the guy in a suit and it's really really funny. The interviewee told me afterwards that he felt uncomfortable being overdressed compared to myself and everyone else he saw in the office, and that was immediately obvious during the interview.

Anyway, just loving look nice. Look like a person that the interviewer would want to hang out with in a public place. People LIKE attractive people and employers HIRE people they like.

Also, there's a common refrain in here that no one would want to work for a company that judged you for wearing a suit to an interview, but the opposite is true as well...if you show up dressed well for the job you will actually be doing and knock it out in the interview and the only thing that stops you from getting hired is as suit jacket then you also probably do not want to work for those people because their priorities loving suck and your co-workers are going to have been selected based on very specious criteria.

DrAlexanderTobacco
Jun 11, 2012

Help me find my true dharma
Apologies DarkHelmut. Everything you said makes perfect sense - I've just had good experience doing that. Completely anecdotal of course.

DrAlexanderTobacco fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Aug 8, 2014

George H.W. Cunt
Oct 6, 2010





NippleFloss posted:

I'm pretty sure I don't want to work in a foul smelling jail though...


It's mainly because my little office is in the jail proper instead of the non smelly civilian side. Otherwise jail is fun to work at. Inmates can be funny.

Loten
Dec 8, 2005


I agree with "wear a suit to interview". We're currently in the process of being outsourced and potentially absorbed into the out sourcing company. We effectively had to interview for our current positions with the new company, though they may move us elsewhere in their organisation a few months down the track.

On the day of the interview I wore a suit (no tie) because I want them to know that I want to work for them, I copped some good natured ribbing about already ruining my first impression as I'd previously been introduced to everyone there, but could tell the effort was appreciated. For reference, my normal work attire is suit pants and shirt, no jacket.

One of my workmates wore black jeans and steel caps, which is his usual work attire, under the impression that he wants them to hire him for being him. I can tell you know that he is going to be lucky to keep his job. Not solely because of his attire, but because his general rock star attitude.

Fiendish Dr. Wu
Nov 11, 2010

You done fucked up now!
Wore khaki's (Dockers Alpha slim), ocbd, blazer, tie, nicest shoes I own to the interview that got me my current job. Will wear my new suit to the next one.

Docjowles
Apr 9, 2009

My view boils down to the idea that wearing a suit will be at worst neutral and otherwise positive in 95% of companies. I admit to completely pulling that number out of my rear end, but would any of you seriously not hire an otherwise good candidate JUST because (s)he wore a suit? Assuming you own one to wear to weddings and whatnot anyway, it costs you literally nothing but a dry cleaning bill to bust it out for interviews.

I totally concede that "button down and slacks" is probably fine. But why not do everything you can to tip the odds in your favor? If it's a company that will seriously disqualify you for wearing a suit, it will probably be readily apparent. See the last thread where we talked about the interview that began with the COO shooting you in the dick with a nerf dart or whatever.

scanlonman
Feb 7, 2008

by R. Guyovich
Does anyone have any adivce on their favorite network/server vulnerability scanner? Does anyone here even use one?

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

scanlonman posted:

Does anyone have any adivce on their favorite network/server vulnerability scanner? Does anyone here even use one?

We use Qualys at our company for weekly scanning and reporting. I use metasploit and Nmap when needed.

beepsandboops
Jan 28, 2014
I'm working at a small-ish (~90 people) office that currently has no ticketing system. We fake our way with Sharepoint lists and email, but I'd like to implement a proper system. The past couple of places I've worked at all had their own homebrew solutions, so I'm not very familiar with what's out there. Any suggestions? I've looked into things like Spiceworks and Zen Desk.

adorai
Nov 2, 2002

10/27/04 Never forget
Grimey Drawer
we use otrs for my 750 person org. We don't just use it for the helpdesk, groups outside of IT use it too.

George H.W. Cunt
Oct 6, 2010





We use HelpStar and it's okay. I don't think we use it to the best we could but it services the entire county sheriff's office well enough.

psydude
Apr 1, 2008

Heartache is powerful, but democracy is *subtle*.
Regarding hip nerd interview attire: What about meeting casual and business casual half way - jeans, dress shoes/boots, button down, and a sport coat?

Here on the East Coast we always wear suits anyway.

e:

quote:

Would you suggest that a woman should wear a formal dress to an interview? If not, then why not?

Suits aren't formal. A woman's equivalent to a business suit would either be a pant suit or a suit jacket and conservative skirt or slacks. And yes, women almost always dress that way for interviews here.

psydude fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Aug 8, 2014

mrchoupon
Jun 3, 2001


I've had a few interview lately, both internal and external, and I've always worn slacks, a tie and a jacket. I've gotten some light ribbing on the internal interviews (it's a school district so we're pretty casual) but I know those hiring have been critical of people who couldn't take the effort to dress up a little nicer. It takes minimal effort and I've never heard complaints about a candidate being overdressed.

psydude
Apr 1, 2008

Heartache is powerful, but democracy is *subtle*.
I have a technical interview next week with a guy who is a triple CCIE.

:staredog:

orange sky
May 7, 2007

psydude posted:

I have a technical interview next week with a guy who is a triple CCIE.

:staredog:

Ask him if he is well versed in ICMP.

Sepist
Dec 26, 2005

FUCK BITCHES, ROUTE PACKETS

Gravy Boat 2k

psydude posted:

I have a technical interview next week with a guy who is a triple CCIE.

:staredog:

Don't sweat it too much. I've had interviews with 2 different CCIEx3, just know they are way smarter than you and they know it. One of the interviews I had we spent an hour diving into how deep down the technical rabbit hole I could go (poo poo like which k factors in EIGRP are used by default) whereas another asked me what part of a packet gets rewritten when traversing a router interface, then he just asked me how I would utilize grep and awk print when parsing data (he was trying to poke holes in my resume at this point).

dogstile
May 1, 2012

fucking clocks
how do they work?

orange sky posted:

Ask him if he is well versed in ICMP.

There goes my drink all over my desk you glorious bastard.

---------------------------------------------

So i've been raised up to a new team at work, its for new software and we have assigned clients that we take care of, rather than just picking up whoever calls. We work in teams of two and everyone in the team is in the same room i'm in. Its pretty awesome and I get to use some of my residue database/coding knowledge to decipher the dev speak, as we work pretty closely with the dev team.

Its a godsend compared to first line and because the clients that I work with are my clients rather just a client, I definitely feel way more motivated.

Best part? The teams meant to have a meeting each week and I threw out the idea of just having that meeting at the pub at the end of the day as its just across the road. They love the idea :getin:

dogstile fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Aug 8, 2014

Comradephate
Feb 28, 2009

College Slice
Wearing jeans and a t-shirt to an interview crew, checking in.

Granted, they told me point blank that they would make fun of me if I wore a suit.

CloFan
Nov 6, 2004

beepsandboops posted:

ticketing system.

We use Numara Track-It! 8.5. It works pretty well, I haven't really had any annoyances with it yet. Pretty much any feature you'd want a ticketing system to have, this has it.

psydude
Apr 1, 2008

Heartache is powerful, but democracy is *subtle*.

Sepist posted:

Don't sweat it too much. I've had interviews with 2 different CCIEx3, just know they are way smarter than you and they know it. One of the interviews I had we spent an hour diving into how deep down the technical rabbit hole I could go (poo poo like which k factors in EIGRP are used by default) whereas another asked me what part of a packet gets rewritten when traversing a router interface, then he just asked me how I would utilize grep and awk print when parsing data (he was trying to poke holes in my resume at this point).

God I hate pedantic poo poo in technical interviews, especially when it's asking about some obscure IOS command.

angry armadillo
Jul 26, 2010

SaltLick posted:

I work in a jail and wear the same lovely khakis and polo every day because jail smells like bad easy mac and despair. I went to the interview in a suit. Wear a suit this is easy stuff.

High 5 jail working buddy!

Our place just smells of cleaning fluids because all the prisoners do is clean clean clean... I now associate the smell of cleaning products as jail smell

Inspector_666
Oct 7, 2003

benny with the good hair

psydude posted:

God I hate pedantic poo poo in technical interviews, especially when it's asking about some obscure IOS command.

I had a recruiter run me through "some technical questions" which were just him reading sample questions from one of the MCSE exams. I don't have any MS certs and have no idea what the nomenclature for their poo poo is. They also asked me what port HTTP traffic used.

On one of the MS questions I straight up said "I have no idea" and he had me guess, and then asked me why I guessed that answer. This wasn't a technical question at all, it was something where I had to pick between three choices for the proper name of a specific type of service running on a specific server in some type of environment. The only possible reason for my guess could have been "It sounded good."

Inspector_666 fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Aug 8, 2014

CLAM DOWN
Feb 13, 2007




I had to write some pseudocode on a whiteboard for my interview, but it was for a job with a focus on scripting and Powershell so that was expected and totally fine, I actually enjoyed it.

penga86
Aug 26, 2003

GIG 'EM

CloFan posted:

We use Numara Track-It! 8.5. It works pretty well, I haven't really had any annoyances with it yet. Pretty much any feature you'd want a ticketing system to have, this has it.

Were you guys ever able to get the remote support or inventory parts working? We used that same program but for some reason could never get it to pull info from machines or let us do the screen sharing support. This was almost 6 years ago so it might have gotten better or our install was just done improperly.

psydude
Apr 1, 2008

Heartache is powerful, but democracy is *subtle*.

Inspector_666 posted:

I had a recruiter run me through "some technical questions" which were just him reading sample questions from one of the MCSE exams. I don't have any MS certs and have no idea what the nomenclature for their poo poo is. They also asked me what port HTTP traffic used.

On one of the MS questions I straight up said "I have no idea" and he had me guess, and then asked me why I guessed that answer. This wasn't a technical question at all, it was something where I had to pick between three choices for the proper name of a specific type of service running on a specific server in some type of environment. The only possible reason for my guess could have been "It sounded good."

Haha. Well, this one is for a wireless engineer, so hopefully they won't ask me too much oddball poo poo.

Wrath of the Bitch King
May 11, 2005

Research confirms that black is a color like silver is a color, and that beyond black is clarity.

psydude posted:

God I hate pedantic poo poo in technical interviews, especially when it's asking about some obscure IOS command.

The interview I was on earlier this week had a bunch of basic MS applications attached to the NoRuns registry key. Figuring out that "problem" was part of the technical assessment.

Glass of Milk
Dec 22, 2004
to forgive is divine

penga86 posted:

Were you guys ever able to get the remote support or inventory parts working? We used that same program but for some reason could never get it to pull info from machines or let us do the screen sharing support. This was almost 6 years ago so it might have gotten better or our install was just done improperly.

I also used that several years ago- pretty good for local LAN, but our WAN admins had a hell of a time working with it.


I had a phone interview with a nice internal hiring lady today for an IT Manager position who was super pleasant when I told her I wanted to see if we were a fit before talking salary.

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George H.W. Cunt
Oct 6, 2010





After a year of waiting and political bullshit within the upper management I might be finally getting the server position they have wanted me to fill. Hopefully it all works out. Being liked can really take you far within an organization. Dress yourselves, be sociable, and smell nice people.

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