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Halloween costumes for techies

In honor of Halloween, Kristen Caretta, associate editor of SearchCIO-Midmarket.com, and I decided to get a bit silly and dream up our top 10 Halloween costumes for the IT set. Wear these to your office party and wait for the compliments – or, possibly, eye rolls – to come in.

Without further ado:

  • HAL, from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dress all in black and affix a red, glowing button to your chest, with a “Hello Dave” sign underneath. You’ve probably heard the rumor that the name HAL might have been derived from IBM … which offers me an excellent opportunity to direct you to our Halloween-themed podcast on SearchCIO-Midmarket.com, where IBM’s business continuity expert Pat Corcoran discusses IT lessons learned from horror movies.

Sport a rectangular box (black or white if you’re going as a 16 GB model, black only if you’re going as an 8 GB model) with colorful icons pasted on it. Encourage party guests to try out your “apps”: ask them to sing a song, and try to identify it, a la Shazam or Midomi. Or make restaurant recommendations in their neighborhood. Or provide them with the latest scores for their favorite sports teams. The possibilities are endless. And maybe you’ll even be lucky enough to run into a party guest dressed as Google’s G1 Android phone and get a competition going….

  • Cloud computing: Strap a big, clear bag containing cotton around your midsection, and walk around all evening with a laptop tucked under your arm. When people ask about your costume, explain that you’re to thank for Google Apps and the like.
  • A credit card: Infamous data breaches the past couple of years at Hannaford Bros. Co. and The TJ Maxx Cos. have caused some consumers to think twice before paying via credit. Dress up as a Visa or Mastercard, and let everybody know that you’re interested in transacting with only the 50% of businesses that are compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards.
  • A telecommuter – Show up in your pajamas and slippers and explain that you’ve been slaving away at “the home office” all day. Make it clear that, no, you haven’t been laid off – CIOs report that they’re actually relatively secure in their jobs despite the current financial crisis.

Want to know the other five? Visit SearchCIO-Midmarket.com’s CIO Symmetry blog. And feel free to chime in with your own suggestions!

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