In what I perceive as "hacker culture", wearing neat and properly-fitted clothes is anything but "conforming".
That's something different. By "conforming" I meant "conforming to the mainstream", which is the type of conforming the OP (and the root comment) is about.
(Edit: I agree that subcultures have their own conformity rules.)
I don't know if you've observed normal people lately, but wearing well-fitted clothes is pretty clearly not "the mainstream".
In terms of cultural values, it clearly is. Hence the connection to "career advancement".
Please don't be personally sarcastic on HN.
Shared cultural values in the US definitely do not include well-fitted clothes, outside of niche markets like fashion or design, in major cities like New York.
Please don't meta-moderate my contributions to this community.
An article like this shooting to the top of HN is a consequence of the rise in status of programmers. Probably nothing can be done about it, but an article on how to conform is the antithesis of hacker culture.