Interview at Rackspace tomorrow (San Antonio, Anton: house, contractor, office)

[rd2007]

They usually require a high clearance and also make people wear suits/female equivalent. IT work in suits is just wrong on so many levels.. I'll take the Rackspace dress code over that any day and the dress code/lack of dress code where I work is pretty sweet too

[Verio]

Originally Posted by TexasNick

What about Booz Allen? They are hiring lots of IT peeps and I'm hearing they were recently listed as one of the top places to work in the US. Also their benefits are pretty stellar.

They're a defense contractor. The bottom line with those folks is, when the contract moolah dries up, so does your job. I used to work for 2 different defense contractors. Trust me, the contracts do end after awhile.

I'm in IT and I wear a suit every day and it makes me cry.

[doss1]

We have several defense contractors at my base that are in jeans. I guess it depends on whether one works at a clients site or at the contractor's headquarters.

[ok2k]

Rackspace is well known in the inner circles to follow a 'no a**hole' philosophy when hiring that starts from the top (Lanham).

As the incumbent mentioned, be yourself, admit your shortcomings, be proud of your previous accomplishments and knowledge (and don't be an a**hole).

[grlygrl13]

well today's interview seemed to have gone well, I was told I'll have another at the beginning of next week, then from there it is a skype and then fly me down. Looking forward to it!

[rd2007]

Sounds promising grlygrl

and I'm an AF contractor and I almost always wear jeans. Hell, I wore these shoes yesterday...

Amazon.com: ASICS Men's Gel-Noosa Tri 6 Running Shoe: Shoes

just certain companies, like Booze, make everyone wear suits. Shirt and tie for casual Friday..

[flangl18]

About 75% the contractors in my office at Fort Sam wear jeans or khaki's and polo style shirts. Heck, the GS wear jeans half the time and we work with a lot of high ranking military officials. Really no biggie on the base here, unless there is something special going on and as long as it isn't jeans full of holes.
BTW - they are hiring a bunch of IT types at Fort Sam as well.

[darkknight22]

DaCountry, really depends on the area you're going into. For example windows techs do MCITP, Linux do Red Hat certs, netsec do Cisco, so on and so forth. They may be required but it's not the end all and it's definitely not how the hierarchy works either. Checking the website for open positions will give you a much better idea of what's available and what they are looking for.

grlygrl, congrats on taking the first step. Sounds like you are following the same path I did. Just remember that this will most likely be the most unconventional interview you've been on, but don't take it personally.

Like ok2k said, it's pretty much a "don't be an ahole" mentality around here, so if you're not an ahole you should be fine . And to further the dresscode comment I'm writing this at my desk wearing flip flops (it's a florida thing), shorts, and a t-shirt, can't beat it. Unless you're in sales and meeting with customers in person you can do whatever makes you more comfortable to work.

[LindaGrace]

Originally Posted by grlygrl13

well today's interview seemed to have gone well, I was told I'll have another at the beginning of next week, then from there it is a skype and then fly me down. Looking forward to it!

Good deal! Best of luck!

I also have to wear grown up clothes every day and I'm getting freakin' tired of it. Sometimes I feel like I'd give my eyeteeth to wear a pair of jeans to work. In fact, if I could just wear jeans instead of dress trousers, I'd be perfectly happy to continue wearing a nice top and jacket.

Would it be weird to look for a job based on the company's dress code?

[rd2007]

I don't see anything wrong with using a dress code to determine whether or not you want to work somewhere. Obviously depends on the industry you're in, though. I can't imagine my dad ever wearing jeans to work, but he was a banker. However, the IT field is pretty diverse as far as what you can find and Rackspace is pretty well known for having an extremely liberal dress code. Didn't make up for the lack of pay for me, but if the salary options were close, it would count towards something. It's like any other benefit/standard such as health care, vacation time, working hours, etc.