4 responses to “Tech nerds wear t-shirts”

  1. Michel says:

    Nice. Reminds me of a quote from Gustave Flaubert: “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work”. Guess this goes for writers..

  2. Joost Canters says:

    If said “techies” (they’re actually very succesful managers and business leaders) really don’t give a fuck about how they look, why do they go to such great lengths to express that? And why do they express it in such a consistent manner (e.g. bare feet, hoodies)?

    “I don’t gave a fuck this morning so I chose exactly what my peers chose. They don’t give a fuck either. ” Sure.

    It must not be too hard to dismiss the idea that Steve Jobs wasn’t making a hugely important point with his bare feet or his sets of identical (Issey Miyake) pullovers. I would not have encouraged any of his people to try and talk him into wearing something else instead, unless I was in a particularly mischievous mood.

    Concerning the others, they’re conformists in being non-conformist. The bare feet and the hoodie are the suit and tie in the dress code of their social circles. It all reminds me of an ad for a product that makes your hair look like you didn’t pay any attention to it since waking up. (Studio Line Out of Bed)

    If they really didn’t give a fuck, there would be more techies in formal dress, purely based on probability. They do give a fuck. But yes, they’re sure as shit not creative about it.

  3. Joost Canters says:

    “Bare”, “Minimalist”, “Monochromous”, “Essential”, “No frills” – Steve’s products or Steve’s clothing?

  4. Wouter Boon says:

    I end the article by saying that even the ‘basic’ look is a dresscode. And that sleeping underneath your desk is a lifestyle. I believe that the first coders truly didn’t believe that looks were important. And that most of them are still less interested about looks. But some (the less authentic, less talented or less autonomous ones) have adopted the start-up looks and lifestyle. In my book I explain that the creative domain very much resembles the cultural domain. The cultural domain slowly changes through memes (ideas, styles, language, etc. introduced by a few and then slowly adopted by many). So, to some extend you should see the hoodies and bare feet in this context. Just as the beards and the fixies in advertising.

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