MegDesk

In case you haven’t heard, Mattel unveiled Barbie’s latest career choices at the American International Toy Fair, a few weeks ago.  They put it to a vote on the internet, so not surprisingly the popular choice (swayed by the computer-addicted masses) was “computer engineer.”  The company also created a “news anchor” doll, which was the most popular choice among girls.  I’m pretty sure that I remember seeing a call to arms on a geek girls website and casting my vote for computer engineer, so I’m amused to see that the choice won and that Mattel followed through on their promise.

Since I started programming when I was young enough to be playing with Barbies, I think I would have wanted one of these no matter what she was wearing.  However, I will admit that I’m not thrilled with what Mattel came up with.  Even though they claim to have worked closely with the Society of Women Engineers to develop the doll’s look, I’m not so sure that SWE is the group to turn to for fashion advice, even when it comes to “geek chic.”

First, let’s start with the good points:

• She has binary on her t-shirt.  That’s definitely adding to her geek reputation, since any decent programmer either owns or admires a shirt with a clever binary joke or message.
• She has cool retro glasses.  A lot of people have chastised this decision with sarcastic comments like, “Oh, you can tell she’s smart, because she’s wearing glasses!”  No, she’s a computer engineer, and staring at a monitor all day has damaged her eyesight and dries out her contact lenses.
• She has a pink laptop.  I’ve seen bloggers complaining about this one too.  Pink is Barbie’s favorite color, so she chose a pink laptop casing.  Plain and simple.  My own laptop is blue, because I like blue.  If I liked pink (and I know a few female programmers who do), my laptop would be pink too!
• Is that a circuit board print on her jacket sleeves?  Probably not the most stylish choice, but that definitely earns points for being subtly geeky.

So, clearly Mattel got a few things right.  Unfortunately, they also got a lot of things wrong:

• The leggings and jacket thing?  Way too trendy for most programmers.  And that half-sleeve jacket looks like it would be very uncomfortable to wear while typing.  I rarely wear half-sleeves for this very reason.
• There’s a folder icon on her t-shirt?!?  Enough said.
• I don’t understand the bluetooth earpiece.  Unless she’s Skype-calling her internet friends in Denmark, I don’t see why she needs this.  Plus, I’ve read that she also comes with a mobile phone.  I don’t know any engineers who are permanently attached to a bluetooth cellphone headset.  Those are sales and management types.

For fun, I decided to mock up what I think computer engineer Barbie should look like.  I’m a women, I played with Barbies, and I’m a computer engineer.  I think that makes me qualified, right?  And if any crafty parents out there want to redesign the wardrobe of their children’s computer engineer Barbie, feel free to borrow from my concept design:

• She keeps her cool pink glasses and her personalized Barbie-pink laptop.
• She also keeps her gorgeous flowing blonde hair, but we’ve added some pink highlights to show her funky, geeky side.  Think computer whiz “Penelope Garcia” from Criminal Minds.
• Her binary t-shirt has been replaced with a geek-standard black t-shirt from Think Geek, cut in a flattering feminine shape.
• Leggings?  Fitted jeans are more versatile and stylish enough for most engineers.
• Instead of a self-important bluetooth headset, we give her an iPod, so that she can enjoy her favorite coder soundtrack without disturbing the colleagues in her cube farm.  (This should also help to appease the Mac fanboys out there.)
• And lastly, it may not be the most stylish accessory, but a copy of Visual Studio will definitely make Barbie’s life easier than trying to debug that binary code.

I would definitely buy my daughter that second Barbie.  I think she looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Cool and realistic.  Either that, or this career has completely destroyed my sense of aesthetics!

This entry was tagged with humor, photoshop, programming, toys and filed under Geek. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.