I confess that I snorted at this report, because I can't think of the last time I wore a suit. And my husband doesn't own one.

Then again, I've been hired by phone for every job (or contract) I've had in the last ten years; I never met my boss in person until after I started work. Plus, I live in Arizona, which is far more casual than is the northeast, and there are maybe five restaurants where you'd be turned away for wearing flip-flops and shorts. (I once wore a suit to work at U-Haul International, just because, darnit, it was a pretty suit. Several people asked, "Do you have an interview?" That's how unusual suits are.)

I'm not surprised that CIOs would like to see candidates wear a suit, because they are comfortable in a suit. (Most of them, anyway.) But unless it's the CIO who makes the Hire decision, I'm not convinced that "wear a suit" is the correct advice; for developers, anyhow, the person whom you want to impress with your (ahem) suitability is the person who says, "Let's choose her." And the rule has always been to dress one or two steps better than the person who's interviewing you—or at least equal. (Which also explains why CIOs like to wear suits: we all search for people "just like us" even when what you really need is someone who doesn't think like you.)

To a large degree, of course, it depends on the nature of the shop where you'd be working. Someone who's interviewing for a corporate job... yeah, sure. Even here. A startup? Anyone who wore a suit to an interview would be demonstrating his out-of-touchness. And, in a way, wearing something other than Dockers and a polo shirt shirt would communicate (to me) that a developer is relatively junior. Confident, senior developers might possibly own a suit, but they would look uncomfortable in one.

The fact that the report comes from Robert Half does, of course, demonstrate its... well, "bias" is a little strong for what I mean, but certainly it reflects the nature of the jobs the recruiting firm places. Most of them are the middle-of-the-road contract gigs, in my experience.

Most of the time in the instant that I sit down in the interview my suit jacket is off anyway. The suit jacket at that point is little more than any coat. So what is wrong with a dress shirt, nice pants, and a tie? that is all the interviewer is going to see anyway.
I have interviewed many an IT person myself, I believe they all wore suits. I being the Director of IT, wore business casual. I am sure they felt uncomfortable and I was uncomfortable for them. I understood that they were trying to impress me by wearing a suit.. But again when the jacket came off they were just wearing what I was wearing but with a tie..
I would not like to see someone come into an interview with jeans, even though I've seen the owners of the company arrive in a client meeting wearing them.. ugh.
Anyway I am interviewing for new job, today actually. In my research of their IT department I discovered a photo of them online. They are all dressed business casual, no ties, not even in management where I am applying for. I am not a fan of wearing suits, they make me uncomfortable. Based on what I have seen them wear I am going to up my ante and wear a nice dress shirt, a vest,a tie, nice pants and nice shoes, but no suit. I guess we will see how well I do at the interview....

I think, with clothes anyway, fitting in is more important than standing out. Ironically.. dressing to fit in might make you stand out..

oh .. and one comment about the article.. its not that IT people have no fasion sense.. thats not fair. Have you tried working on a computer in a suit? or working in a tight server room closet in a suit? What IT wears is for less for fasion and more for function. Thats all we need is a button to pop off a cuff and dropping into a CPU fan, burning it up and shutting down the server. Or a tie getting sucked into a server case fan, a copier, or even a shredder while we IT people repair it.