"Greetings everyone, my name is Valentine and I'm the lead developer on this project."

A quick scan of the conference room — some faces lit up with surprise, others with skepticism. I smiled and carried on with my presentation.

Yaoundé, Cameroon, 2018. I was working as a fullstack developer for a consulting firm, on a digitalization project for a joint operation between 3 government ministries.

That day I arrived at a requirements clarification meeting with Steve (not his real name), my intern. Steve was a 4th year computer science student doing an academic internship to validate his year. Broad-shouldered, slightly disheveled, serious and brooding — he had exactly the look people picture when they think "tech expert." He called me Sensei.

When we arrived, I walked in first, picked a strategic seat and sat down. Power outlet within reach, projector accessible, and the meeting chair would be at the head of the table — close enough to hear me clearly and for me to take notes on his feedback. Settled in, I nodded at Steve. He took the seat to my left.

Laptop out, SublimeText open on a black screen (yes, it's the best editor on earth, I don't care what you say), and just like that, I was already deep in some php.

Fortunately — or not — not everyone had arrived yet, including the meeting chair. So I took the opportunity to fix a last-minute production bug, which meant editing the file list.php directly on the server. (I know what you're thinking. But this was the golden age of FileZilla. No judgment.)

Oh, I almost forgot to mention — true to form, nails done, colors coordinated with my outfit (because why not?), perched on 6 or 7cm heels, my silhouette well put together in my little presentation kaba; make-up on fleek, with the kind of eye look you can only imagine.

The meeting chair finally arrived, got settled and opened the session. We quickly moved through the status update, concerns and objectives — which I noted carefully. Then it was time for the consulting team to present recent changes and their understanding of the brief. The floor was given to "Mr. the consultant's representative who came with his colleague." Yes, you read that right. "Mister." The mic was of course handed to Steve, who looked at me, visibly uncomfortable, and said "It's for you, boss." I smiled, took the mic and signaled him to handle the PowerPoint while I presented. To be fair, the fact that I'd spent the entire opening taking notes probably didn't help — he must have assumed I was the secretary. I imagine!

So I took the mic and introduced myself. From the reactions around the room, I could tell I was going to have to live-code right there to prove I was the one who built it.

…Just kidding! I followed the planned presentation and everything went smoothly. It takes more than that to throw me off.

Stories like this one? I could give you ten, easily. From my own experience or from witnessing it happen to someone else.

Whether it was arriving at a company where the devs on the team called me an "Ana Montana" who would slow them down, being openly asked whether I was team lead because my boss wanted to promote female leadership, or a more recent experience with auditors who couldn't believe I was leaving with them at night, working on their feedback overnight, and showing up in the conference room the next morning already set up — hair and makeup still on point. And those comments dropped here and there — "Wow, you wouldn't think so!", "Are you sure? Because when you look at you…", etc.

Defining the concept

The beauty privilege — or pretty privilege — refers to the tendency to attribute greater intellectual qualities, opportunities, and goodwill to people considered attractive. And attractiveness here goes beyond physical features — the way you present yourself, the way you dress, is very much part of the equation. ¹

In professional settings and society at large, dressing according to expected codes generally means dressing well — and it works in your favor. But in tech, things seem to work differently. Which raises the question: are the codes inverted?

Let me explain.

While every other field encourages people to put their best foot forward to maximize their chances, it seems like in tech, the unspoken rule is to look as disheveled as possible to be trusted with the server room.

The survey — or not!

When I set out to put these thoughts on paper, I ran a small empirical survey among a few professionals in Douala. Fair warning: nothing scientific here, just honest conversations — so your experience may be completely different. Here's what came out of it.

The findings

From our discussions, two things stood out:

An evidence!

It's a thing — people absolutely judge a developer by their hoodie, hahaha. More seriously, everyone I spoke to agreed that outside of exceptional contexts or companies with a strict dress code, tech people are just not expected to make a particular effort with their appearance.

"In the entire building where I work, there's only one tech company — and you can always tell their employees apart by what they wear, somewhere between basic and casual. No need to ask, you just know when someone walking in is headed there or somewhere else." — J, Developer

"Having worked in finance where the dress code is quite strict, my observation is that tech people are always in polo shirts, jeans or chinos when they're making an effort." — F, HR Director

Perhaps a different role?

When they encounter a well-dressed tech person, they automatically assume it's someone in a management role (and therefore not actually coding), the CEO-founder, or a senior already in a leadership position. For a junior profile, they struggle to believe the person takes their work seriously if they take time to look good.

"I'd probably assume it's a project manager or something — but not a developer." — Prisca, Senior Software Analyst

"It only makes sense to me if it's a senior. I'd think the person has enough experience now and is shifting focus to management." — Adonis, Senior Fullstack Engineer & Tech Founder

The causes

According to my interlocutors, several causes were identified:

Social codes and popular imagination

Largely shaped by movie stereotypes.

"It's the prototype the job demands." — Gaby

"Back in school, some teachers would already tease classmates about it: 'How are you going to code if you spend all your time putting on makeup like that?'" — Tatiana, QA Analyst

Practicality

The mind is deep in code, no time to get dressed up.

"We leave late, we get home late, there's really no time to think too much about what to wear — you just grab whatever's there." — Jane, Blockchain Dev

No real need

We're in the back office, so why bother.

"When I show up looking rough and someone asks, I proudly tell them I'm a dev — so it's expected." — Dimitri, Web Dev

Conform!

The need to blend in to avoid remarks and potential discrimination in task assignment.

"Sometimes I feel like I have to stay really late just to prove I can grind, even when I finished my tasks early and honestly there was nothing that complicated about them." — A Senior Backend Engineer

Deep dive

There's this unspoken rule that in this industry, you're supposed to be a workaholic, available at all hours.

"He said — but if you already have 2 kids and a husband, with all those responsibilities, how will you manage to keep up with the work here?" — Prisca, Senior Software Analyst

A matter of professional requirements?

"A developer without glasses? I wouldn't trust them. How do you justify spending hours in front of a screen if your eyes aren't affected?" — Charly, Head of Sales, Asset Management

"They're creative minds, so they can be eccentric. It's understandable." — Daniel, Financial Auditor

The consequences

Lost opportunities

"I was once rejected at an interview because I was too well put together. The recruiter told me herself. And yet it was our school that had advised us to dress that way to appear more serious." — Mathilde, Junior Data Analyst, Yde

"I almost didn't get the job because the tech lead interviewing me doubted I could handle the role, based on how I was dressed — which apparently gave away that I was a woman with responsibilities. He was even more taken aback that I wasn't carrying a backpack but a small handbag: 'Where do you keep your laptop?' he asked me." — Prisca, Senior Software Analyst

Missed opportunities for professional growth

"My team lead would only give me light tasks, far below my skill level. When I asked him about it, he told me he didn't want to 'bother me with' the harder stuff because it was 'too complex' and I was 'too pretty to suffer'! Tasks that were actually in my job description." — Marie, Security Engineer

But there's a silver lining too!

"Most of the time, based on my appearance alone, people assume I'm the CEO. That has often worked in my favor when negotiating contracts for the company." — Fabrice, Senior Software Engineer, Yde

I haven't found any formal research on the subject yet. If you know of any, drop them in the comments.

Beyond judgment, it's about wellbeing

It's true that one might question the relevance of focusing on appearance when, as people often say, what matters most is that the work gets done.

Well, it turns out that taking care of your appearance is far from superficial — it's self-care. And in our industry — the one that glorifies coffee on drip, all-nighters, and sandwiches wolfed down in two minutes because there's "no time" — self-care is anything but a minor detail.

Research confirms it, actually: (yes, I went looking for backup) feeling good about your appearance triggers the release of dopamine and serotonin, reduces stress, and improves life satisfaction. ² In other words, looking in the mirror in the morning and liking what you see makes you happy. And happy people work better — sharper cognitive ability, better focus, higher productivity. ³ On the flip side, neglecting that care, just like neglecting your diet or your sleep, is the most direct route to burnout. ⁴

And then there's an angle that matters particularly to me in our context: we're not going to stay devs forever. At least not only. Our ecosystem is young and growing fast, and many of us will soon be founders, partners, senior managers, or the face of our companies in front of international stakeholders. Fabrice's case isn't an exception — it's a preview. Working on your appearance early is also working on your leadership before you even have the title.

And to recruiters and employers — tech employees are not meant to die in server rooms. Showing up well has nothing to do with commitment or performance. On the contrary — investing in your team's wellbeing, inside and out, is exactly that: an investment. Not a concession.

The gender angle

I could have framed this entire piece through a strictly sexist and misogynistic lens. And for good reason — even without me asking directly, the responses kept converging on one point: the bias is more pronounced when the person in question is a woman.

We can therefore say with confidence that this reverse halo effect is very real in our ecosystem. It may seem like a minor issue, but as is so often the case in professional settings, women are the most likely to be exposed to it — and the ones who bear the brunt of it daily. — More on that later.

"I'll admit my bias is stronger when it's a woman: the better she presents herself, the less seriously I take her." — Dimitri, Web Dev

"I'd probably think to myself — well, with AI around she won't even need to write that much code anyway, hahah." — Adonis, Senior Fullstack Engineer & Tech Founder

Confession time

I still remember the first time I met Stephan (not his real name) at DevFest Douala. Fitted suit, shirt, blue tie — he'd been at the office that morning, which explained the unusually corporate look. Stephan was a junior engineer at a local bank at the time. I'll be honest: I did a double take when he started telling us about the projects he was working on. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had unconsciously assumed that tech people at banks spent their days installing antivirus software and maintaining off-the-shelf solutions — because they always showed up dressed like that. Well then! The simple fact of writing this down makes me realize just how blind I was to my own biases.

And now what?

"Nothing! I don't see what could ever change the way I see this." — Jane, Blockchain Dev

And like Jane, for many people, a well-dressed dev will always seem out of place — and they neither can nor want to change that.

That may well be the reality of the situation — mindsets don't shift by decree. But that doesn't mean nothing can be done.

These are the directions my interlocutors suggested:

1. People who take care of their appearance should own it proudly, and shine in their code just as much as in their outfit. This will help normalize the situation and discourage young people from disguising themselves as geeks just to build credibility.

2. If you're a recruiter or in any professional context where this kind of judgment can happen, engage the person in a professional conversation before forming an opinion.

"I once had a preconceived idea about a young person who came in for an internship, but after talking with her, my apprehension was quickly gone. I recommend everyone have a real conversation before making up their mind." — Adonis, Senior Fullstack Engineer & Tech Founder

3. If you have a well-dressed person on your team, don't default to giving them the "light" tasks just because you can't picture them building the database.

For my part, I don't think you should have to choose between being yourself and being taken seriously. The two are not mutually exclusive — and they never should have been.

"Ultimately, in a professional context, competence should always come before appearance." — Gaby

Because regardless of what some may think, the normal thing should be to show up as yourself and do your job well — without having to prove anything to anyone. The reality is, I can absolutely deliver without looking like a caffeine-fueled zombie, even though, yeah, I actually haven't slept.

But tell me:

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¹ Beauty privilege — Wikipedia² Echowave.org³ Atlassian⁴ Wake Forest University