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I'm coming up on my last semester in engineering, about to go through the dreaded job interviews. I just wanted to see what the job market is like for longhaired engineers. I'm graduating from a good school magna cum laude, member of my engineering branch's honor society, with 1.5 years work experience in my field and good recommendations, but still getting a little paranoid about the whole process.
MJ
I am an engineer (electrical engineering - railroad traffic control systems), I have been a longhair for at least 25 years and I have lived in Denmark for almost 12 years. Hair length has never been an issue with my Danish employers.
Nick
Well I will give you a view from the employer side. I am president and CEO of a 3 year old startup company in Dallas. We have 15 full time employees (all engineers & developers) and 3 part time contractors. 7 of the 15 full timers have hair almost to their waist. 2 of the contractors have long hair as well.
I don't care at all what they do with their hair. We do telephony software & services and have more consulting work for engineering than we can handle. Our only problem is that we tend too work too much to try and get everything done. Not one of my customers care what my engineers' hair looks like...all they care is how we do the job.
Not once has any customer even said anything to me about hair. :-)
Hope that helps.
Best wishes,
Karen Shelton
PS. I have hair 3 inches below my waist and hardly wear it up. No impact that I can see. :-)
I faced the same problem - albeit some 15 years ago. At that time, things were far more conservative, and I felt compelled to cut my mane off.
A few years ago, I dared to grow my hair out again, and to my surprise, found that it has little or no affect on my career as a software developer. I believe however, it would have some negative effect if you're aiming for upper management circles, sales or marketing type positions.
Based on my experience, my advice would be to make sure your hair is neatly trimmed, and not worry about it. Here in Northern California, a shoulder length pony tail doesn’t even get a second glance any more !
I've learned the hard way - don't worry about what other people think - do what you really want, and stick to your guns. You'll be much happier in the long run.
JB
Happy New Year all.
Well I am an engineerung graduate but I did not have long hair while I worked as an engineer. I doo now as a technical journalist.
Anyway, I've met a few long haired engineers, so I'd say try for the job with long hair.
One of my fellow students in Britain got a job as an engineer with long hair so I don't think it would be a problem, especially of you are not in a sales or marketing job.
Charles
What sort of engineer? Some branches of the profession, e.g., civil and aeronautical engineering, can be quite conservative (I was going to say "stodgy" but thought better of it). But if you're an EE or a software type, come on out to California. If you're any good, you'll have a fistful of offers, and no one will care if your hair is long or short, whether you're straight or gay, or whether your first language is English or a dialect of Sammi. In a tight labor market, talent is all, and workers have the luxury of demanding that their employers respect their privacy. The great part, though, is working with a bunch of people who respect each other as members of a team, and who understand that some things are just none of our business. Congratulations on your forthcoming graduation.
. . . JP in san diego.
JP is right. Some branches are more conservative than others. I'm a P.E., Electrical, in California, and though I always found work when I wanted it, I felt very alone as a longhair in the field of construction engineering. I also felt a bit less mobile than others in the field because I knew I was more likely to suffer discrimination if I tried to move around.
About a year, or maybe two ago, we did a survey on this board of what fields longhairs worked in. Some of us then augmented those comments by visiting web pages of every longhair we knew and if they stated their line of work we noted it. Then we took a high school counseling book that broke up professions by fields, and marked professions where we found longhairs. We found longhairs to be in just about every field. But there was a heavy concentration of longhairs, relatively, in these three fields:
Performing Arts - Lots of longhairs but just in music. There were few longhairs in other subfields to this occupation group.Creative Arts - Longhairs were in this field across the board.Computer Operations - Heavy concentration of longhairs here, across the board. Interestingly, Computer Operations is the one place where two very sparsely-populated fields, business and technology, converge. It is almost as if those of us inclined to work in either field all gather at this intersection to not be alone.
I faced the same problem just a year ago. I had hair that was down to my shoulders when I started the interview process. I got a lot of pressure from people to cut it and I actually did. I did get a job and guess what? There were other long haired engineers there.
My advice to you is to do what you think is right. If a company doesn't hire you for an issue like this you should look elsewhere. There are a number of conservative places but there is an increasing number of open places that make people feel comfortable no matter who they are or what they look like.
I am 18, a college freshman, and starting to grow out my hair from three inches (it's about four inches right now). I am planning on chemical engineering. What might the situation be for longhaired chemical engineers?
P.S. I haven't decided how long to grow my hair yet. I am probably just growing to a short ponytail.
I am 28, and completing my Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. My hair is about 20 inches long and is usually tied back in a ponytail. I went through many job interviews last fall and many friends politely suggested that it was time for a hair cut. I decided against that, figuring that it would be a good test of the employers; if they wouldn't hire me because of my hair length, I wouldn't want to work with them.
Every place I interviewed at offered me a job. I had 4 offers and others calling inviting me to interviews which I declined. In short, there was no problem. Keep in mind that these companies were not trendy startups; some were large Fortune 500 companies.
I know what it's like to be always fretting about what others think; I once did as well (at your age) and have since changed my philosophy on life. As long as you treat others with respect, they will do the same to you, regardless of what you look like. Those that don't aren't worth bothering about.
Ironically, now that I have the job of my dreams, I am considering getting my hair cut short (I have worn it long for 4 years now). But now it would be because of what I want, not what others want.
BTW, I think you are making a good choice with Chemical Engineering. Of all the branches of engineering, it offers the most broad range of fields where you can prosper.
Good luck!
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm doing well in my courses, and am actually enjoying learning. It looks like I'll stick with chemical, which I like better than all the rest of the fields.
As to hair, I seriously doubt that I'll grow mine to 20 inches. I'm at about four inches now, and will probably hold out for a ponytail (but not a long one). I may try about seven inches long.
These are almost exactly the words I used when friends and family (you know, the people who help you get what you need) gave me that hair-cut routine. When I was in my early twenties, longhaired men were few and far between, but I told those friends "Why on EARTH would I want to work for a company who cares more about my HAIR than my job performance? They must be a bunch of losers even if their company is OK"
This is still true.
Dave.
These are almost exactly the words I used when friends and family (you know, the people who help you get what you need) gave me that hair-cut routine. When I was in my early twenties, longhaired men were few and far between, but I told those friends "Why on EARTH would I want to work for a company who cares more about my HAIR than my job performance? They must be a bunch of losers even if their company is OK"
This is still true.
Dave.
You sound very nice, grow a ponytail! Mail me!
I am an aerospace engineer working directly with the Air Force at Edwards AFB. I have 20+ inch bright red hair and have had absolutely no negative comments. I've had hair this length since I graduated. Likewise, I traversed the interview process without any problems. My suggestion to anyone wanting to grow their hair is to grow it out while in school because there are some awkward transients where your hair is hard to style or manage. I keep my hair well groomed and tied in a pony tail during working hours.