I was on a contract for the government when my company hired a really good DBA. He hated dressing up. He was introduced at a meeting and wore a polo shirt, which I thought was fairly professional.
Government contracting guy said to wear a tie.
Next meeting, he wore a tie around his polo shirt.
He was fired on the spot.
There are times I fucking hate the government and this was one of those times.
The guy was fucking amazing. But my company fired him because the government didn't want someone so sloppy on the team.
Those same government agencies then turn around and hire my company to pull them out of the fire after they royally fuck everything up. We charge a fuck ton, will never go onsite, and they should consider themselves lucky if the engineer is wearing pants.
Honestly no database admin is anywhere near that level of "fuck you" influence in any organization. We are more talking about the guy whose name is on all the patents and who is putting together the tech demos which win the big money contracts.
That's ridiculous. I've worked as a government contractor for almost 15 years and the most strict I've seen the dress code be is "no shorts, collared shirt required." Hell, at some sites I've worked the dress code has been basically "wear clothes."
I've been to meetings where the only people not wearing printed tee shirts were the military members who had to be in uniform.