#1 - I gave a guy a chance on a good resume and learned I would LOVE to hire him for a
different position.

#2 - I want you to succeed. I REALLY do. And it kills me when you do what could be
self-destructive things that you don't have to. Other people tried the gentle approach
on this subject, and you rebuffed them, gently.

I'm forcing you to either argue the point, until one of us convinces the other of the futility of the argument, or someone changes their mind, or one of us too tired to continue it.

Would it hurt you to dress up? Is there truly a REASON not too?

We KNOW there are a bunch of reasons to, all based on other people's 1st impression of you. You are competing with many others. There are MANY times I see people disqualified for jobs for the silliest of reasons. It almost always comes down to a 1/2 a dozen people who are qualified. If one person early on sees you and doesn't get the warm fuzzies based on appearance, then you will not even have the chance to go that far.

And even if they keep their mouth shut at 1st, when the discussion comes up later between the various people, you will lose out.

I know you. You are REALLY smart. You often know a lot more about Unix then me (with occasional odd glaring holes). You certainly know far more about Windows and networking.

BUT YOU KNOW VERY LITTLE PERL. AND YOU DON'Y LIKE IT.

So you are going for a job with 2 strikes against you. Why must you inflict the final one on purpose? Take every edge possible and apply it, don't throw it away.