It might work, it may be needed, but it’s embarrassing if so.
The sad reality is that if you’re over 50 you need to be applying to positions that are “age appropriate” which usually implies management.
That’s not really fair (and largely not true.)
What it’s saying is that appearances matter - they’re an important non-verbal signaling channel, and to the extent to which one can control the way you present, you should, and secondly, dress for the job you want.
For both men and women that does not mean dress like you’re going to a club. It is also an admission that even the best of us subconsciously treat attractive people as more competent.
I’m old enough to have worked during an era when you wore a suit and a tie to an interview for any position. If I showed up for a senior role at a startup wearing a suit and tie I would be telling them from the get go that I’m either I’m out of touch with the culture of the org (not good) or I choose to differentiate myself (maybe I’m a lawyer or an accountant.)
Finally, as an example in my case - I am over fifty and overweight, but I am tall. I know (from mirrors) that I look better standing than sitting, so when in person interviewing I try to be standing when people enter the room simply because I get the difference between “former football player” and “fat slob”. Does it bother me? Yes and no. Ultimately I need to be able to deliver the goods, it’s nice not to have to fight through preconceptions.
People who clearly spend/spent a lot of time on their appearance suggests to me that they're trying to use some sort of "trick" to get ahead and that this probably means they're less competent than their peers.
It's like charities that give you a pen, or small quantity of money (bear with me) ... Yes, I know that psychological trick and it strictly suggests to me that yours is a charity I should not donate to.
The whole "dress for the job you want", for example, is really "use people's prejudices to trick them into unconsciously overestimating your competence".
Sadly, marketing tricks (ie the hostile use of psychology) work on all of us, even sometimes when we know we're being tricked. Participating in that kind of thing is a red flag to me.
The "former football player" vs "fat slob" part of your comment suggests you view [or are accommodating others that view] unrelated externalities as more important than intrinsic qualities related directly to the work. That's not uncommon, but it seems like something we need to mature beyond.
>I’m out of touch with the culture of the org (not good) or I choose to differentiate myself //
This seems really sad to me, like a person likes to wear a tie and that's so out there you'd consider you can't work with them? Like, what if they were actually different: came from a different place, spoke different languages, had different body parts? Especially if you're coding, what's it matter if you like to wear a formal thawb (Middle-eastern robe) and they wear Hawaiian shirts and board shorts?
I'm not saying people won't judge you, just that it's wrong.
How can you trust their code, maybe, look at their code?
Don’t look at the fancy clothes(or whatever you think is silly games), look at the code.
Yes, the people that choose based on it are stupid, and it's a good reason for rejecting the places (and you may refuse just to run the test). But you personally isn't losing anything by looking more "whatever those people are selecting for (not competence, that's for sure)", so it is good advice.
Wishful thinking won't help in real life, though.
We should:
* stop drinking alcohol
* stop smoking tobacco
* stop consuming any kind of addictive and harmful substance, such as: hard drugs, light drugs, caffeine, massive quantities of sugar, etc
* start sleeping more
* start working out more
* stop using fossil fuels
* stop using plastics
...
This is BS advice - the appropriate position is one that you like and you have the skills for. I mean, rephrase that and you can see just how discriminatory it is - “women should apply to gender appropriate positions, not programmers”. You see how terrible that sounds.
Which can be somewhat countered by having a solid network by that time rolls around.
There are and always have been many many ICs over 50, what a ridiculous stereotype to propagate.
Fortunately, the company I work for recognizes that people can take their careers in either a vertical (management) or horizontal (increasing skill set and depth of knowledge) direction and are okay with everyone choosing the direction that best fits their interests, personalities, goals, etc.
Nope. My LinkedIn dates me by college graduation date, but it still generates 2-3 inquiries a day for engineering roles. My background has certain trendy buzzwords and the recruiters are interested.
As far I can tell, employers are looking for skills and attitude, and don't much care about anything else.
Would a startup want me? Dunno, haven't tried in a while.
Anecdote: I’ve gotten messages from internal recruiters twice on LinkedIn from Amazon Retail about “exiting opportunities” - while working at AWS. It’s clearly stated on my profile where I work.
Wouldn’t this be like misogynisticly saying:
“The sad reality is that if you’re female you need to be applying to positions that are “gender appropriate” which usually implies clerical/secretary.” ?
Apologies if I didn’t understand what you were really trying to convey. The opening argument was non-sequitur with your closing statement.