Does working full time in a conservative environment and career impact your personality and appearance? (employers, accountants)

[Hard Luck]

I went to a class reunion and got a kick out of how many of my fellow students who were pretty much the same have changed based on what career they went into.

While I understand that in some cases they went into a career that fit their personality, in many cases that was not the case. They just fell into certain work.

I wonder how many Accountants are wild creative people behind the mask of what their employers tell them they should be like. Or how many hairstylists would never fill their body with ink and dye their hair blue if they ended up as Accountants. Or IT Professionals or Engineers who might have been more social in the office if they ended up in Human Resources instead.

So many people's outward personality seems to have merged with the stereotype and expectations of their career.

[Jeo123]

I think your cause and effect might be a bit backwards here, especially if you're basing it on how you knew people to be in high school. High School is the ultimate example of people changing who they are to fit in. It's the real source for what you thought to be the "true" version. Reality is that people just found places they could be who they wanted to be.

Everyone being "pretty much the same" is how most people who aren't "the same" get through high school. They pretend to be just like the other popular people because there aren't a lot of people like them, especially in smaller schools.


I think what you really found out is that you didn't know these people as well as you think you did, and that they were never really "pretty much the same" they were just afraid to be otherwise.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

I work in software development, and I do consider myself a creative person who doesn't fit with the stodgy and robotic stereotype of this profession, but I don't dress or act the part, especially not at work. It's not so much that this particular job has molded me to conform, though; it's more that my broader experience in the workforce - particularly in my first few jobs, where I desperately needed the experience and didn't have much bargaining power - has rewarded presenting myself in a generic, manicured, professional manner, and to some extent that's bled into how I act outside work.

At this point, while I do think it'd be cool to dye my hair turquoise, get a pirate earring, and walk around with necklaces buoyed by statuettes of Hindu gods, I've been pretending to be a normal, respectable guy for so long that anything else feels like pretentious posturing.