blog of kaiyen

I’ve been wondering lately about whether I should start wearing a tie to work, or perhaps when in my career it would be appropriate to do so, if ever.  Please note that I work in academia, in administration (as compared to faculty) so it’s not the same as working in corporate.  And I’m in Silicon Valley, known for being a relatively laid-back work environment, in genera.

My motivations for asking myself this question are two fold.  The first is the obvious – formality, title, how I present myself, etc.  The second is a bit more subtle.  Every time I change jobs, I utilize clothing as one way to kind of “reinvent” myself.  When I first started working, shorts, t-shirts and sandals were fine.  Next job, I decided shorts weren’t quite right.  After that, I moved away from t-shirts.  Then it became polos or buttoned shirts only, though many of the latter were quite informal.  

When I came to Santa Clara, I switched over to dress shirts and nice (I hope) slacks every day.  I don’t wear jeans, I don’t wear even polo shirts.  It helped me feel like I had moved onto something different, and perhaps something more “official.”  

But I was meeting with someone yesterday whom I realized generally wears a tie.  At least, I can’t think of an example when I have met with him and he wasn’t wearing one.  It’s not a really fancy shirt with a really fancy tie, but there is certainly a different look.  

I wonder if there is some confluence of timing, events, title, etc that suggests I should start wearing a tie.  Random thoughts, I know.