In the rapidly changing world of technology, the latest ‘must-have' accessory is something rather prosaic: facial hair. Strangely, the manner in which you style said facial hair can be used to identify the area of technology in which you work.

New ‘research' shows that someone proudly sporting a ‘sculpted goatee' is likely to be a Linux enthusiast, while wearers of the ‘chin-strap' beard are probably database experts. For CIOs, the choice is a simple moustache.

The results come from a survey carried out by training provider, The Training Camp. "The face of the IT industry," says a spokesperson from the company, "remains overwhelmingly male and bearded."

Nearly half of all IT experts, it seems, sport some manner of facial hair. Except at Microsoft where three-quarters of employees are clean-shaven.

At Information Age, we have to take some responsibility for this survey, being one of the magazines the researchers poured over in order to match beard type to job role.