On: Forget the resume, kill on the cover letter

[tptacek]

Business casual. A tie says "BigCo refugee". A t-shirt and jeans probably won't neg you, but it can in some places.

[kscaldef → tptacek]

And remember, you can always ask the HR rep setting up the interview what the typical dress at the company is.

[tptacek → kscaldef]

Danger-Will-Robbins. If you're applying at a VC-funded company, there's a decent chance the HR person has no idea what the engineering culture is actually like. Don't wear the tie.

[kscaldef → tptacek]

In every company I've worked for (pre-money startups, post-money startups, small public companies, 10000+ behemoths), the HR tech recruiters actually interacted with the team frequently and had a good idea how they dressed and behaved.