Computer Engineer Barbie?

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Those wonderful people who bring you Barbie (remember the version that said “Math is hard?”) are collecting votes for Barbie's next career. There are five options up for the vote: Environmentalist, Surgeon, Architect, News Anchor, and Computer Engineer. My first reaction was “Great!” We can get little girls to think about becoming computer engineers at an early age. My second reaction was “how do the Barbie think a female computer engineer looks?” OK now there are some very attractive computer engineers out there. Did you see the picture of Google’s Marissa Mayer in Glamour Magazine? She is a serious technical professional and better looking than Barbie. But she is not what most people think of when they think of a woman computer engineer. So what will Computer Engineer Barbie look like?

My first reaction is – glasses, pocket protector, jeans, t-shirt. The pocket protector idea really worries me. Or will it be some sort of business semi-casual? Copy Marissa’s outfit from Glamour? Come on she doesn’t dress like that on a regular basis. Though I did she that she Twittered that she does usually wear heels. That’s good because from what I can tell Barbie doesn’t do flats. What do you think they will do for Computer Engineer Barbie’s wardrobe? What should they do?

No doubt they will outfit her with gadgets. I wonder if various smart phone makers will vie to have a miniature version of their phone for Barbie to carry? A netbook? For sure. MP3 player? Probably. An ebook reader? Maybe.  I hope they set up her office with a triple screen LCD setup at least. And the printer should be cool looking. I wonder if they will have a miniature wi-fi access point? Maybe I’m getting silly now. Will she have a new printer? Hey, maybe she can have a miniature Microsoft Surface device. OK maybe not. What accessories does Computer Engineer Barbie need?

We need some opinions here from real women who are really computer engineers. What would a computer engineer Barbie look like that makes the field look real and good to little girls? Let’s not leave this work to the toy company or we could see the growth in women in the field set back years!