back to article Computer Engineer Barbie coming soon to a toy store near you

The people have spoken: Barbie will become a computer engineer. And a news reporter. Results of the 2009 Barbie Global Career Survey – called the ‘Girls’ Vote’ on the results announcement page – swung in favor of ‘News Anchor.’ But the ‘Popular Vote’ conducted online during the last month and promoted here has delivered geek …

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  1. dogged

    Equality

    will come they day they bring out "Dustman Barbie".

    Unless you subscribe to the feminist theory that women are only entitled to all the good jobs.

    1. Robin

      Already equal?

      Down here in Spain, you can often see women 'mucking in' with the lads, doing the rounds on the back of the bin lorry and hosing out the big street bins. Not sure Mattel have such a doll planned yet though.

      I've yet to see any disproportionate computer engineers, although my search continues...

    2. Jim Morrow
      IT Angle

      Equality?

      Nah. There can't be equality until Lapdancer Barbie and Crack-whore Barbie are available in the shops.

    3. frank ly

      re. the good jobs

      My local municipal refuse and recycling facility, a.k.a. 'the dump', has a woman working there who climbs into the skips and levels the loads, picks out stuff that has been put in the wrong skip etc. I don't know if she rides the bin wagons but after seeing her moving around like lightning in those skips, I'm sure she could do it.

    4. TeeCee Gold badge
      Coat

      Re: Equality

      You must mean "Refuse Operative Barbie" there surely?

    5. Windrose
      WTF?

      Equality?

      You mean we'll have equality the day women start cleaning up after others? D'oh.

  2. Mark McNeill
    IT Angle

    Sorry, but

    if she's not wearing a pizza-stained FSF t-shirt and carrying a major source of caffeine, my cash is staying in my re-purposed 8-inch floppy-drive moneybox.

    1. skeptical i

      Not sure that "reality" is entirely the point.

      My guess is that since the majority of Barbie recipients (and buyers, i.e., parents, guardians, grandparents) would not know a real- deal computer engineer from a coffee- shop- resident "creative developer" (since "they all work with computers"), Mattel(R) went lowest common denominator to indicate "computeriness" with an obvious t-shirt, laptop, and cellphone/ crackberry (the specific Bluetooth addition is probably for "marketing synergy"). On the other side, if Mattel can make CE Barbie somewhat stylish [start_optimism] that might push more young women (and trans youth) to pursue math and science [/end-optimism] ... which bespeaks a horrifically sad state of affairs, but given the yoof I see and hear 'round these parts such a strategy stands as much chance as any.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    It's a bit early...

    ..... for an Aprils fool joke isn't it??

  4. Broccoli Spears
    Stop

    A bluetooth earpiece? SERIOUSLY?

    Surely the only people who actually use those are men in the grip of an age-related crisis, causing them to believe that they look either too busy/important to actually hold a phone, or like someone out of star trek?

    Last one I saw was yesterday, accompanied by the words "That'll be two pound please luv; want any of this curly kale too? Picked fresh this morning..."

    1. Blofeld's Cat
      Alien

      Re: A bluetooth earpiece? SERIOUSLY?

      I was at a trade counter the other day when somebody brought an item back with missing parts.

      The assistant asked who had served him and the customer pointed at a young lad with a bluetooth earpiece.

      "The cyberman", he said.

    2. Greg J Preece

      I have one

      But that's mainly because - for only one month longer - I still use one of these:

      http://www.digitaltechnews.com/news/images/t_mobile_ameo.jpg

      Try holding that sucker up to your ear to take a phone call. Oh, and I also use it for driving, natch.

    3. Alan W. Rateliff, II
      Paris Hilton

      And a huge one, at that!

      I have to throw my hat in with this bit about the Bluetooth earpiece. Except that I do not find it limited to age-related crisis, but an even mix of attention whores, those who think it is just "neat," those who forget it is there (perhaps because no one ever calls them,) and those who do not have anything better to do with the bloody thing.

      I would almost fall into that later category were it not for SonyEricsson including a handy lanyard which allows me to dangle the otherwise obnoxious accessory from my neck when not in use.

      That, and look how big some of these things are! Good God, is it really necessary to cover up your entire ear and/or half your face? I really like my little HBH-610 which is about two inches long and about a half-inch at its widest, and weighs about a feather-fart. Not to mention I think the Barbie version probably represents a choking hazard.

      My biggest gripe about these things is, again, most people who wear them inconsiderately: hanging out with their mates, on a date (in some cases both sexes on the date have them in place,) and, the best yet, USING THE BATHROOM! Have we become too wired when you cannot use a public john without experiencing the necessity to call someone back when you are done shaking your tally whacker -- or managing whatever other parts you have? Next biggest is how people feel the need to speak loudly, even though the things easily pick up a whisper while still tuning out background noise (well, unless you buy cheap ones or the Chinese knock-offs.) In these cases, I guess the real thing also represents a choking hazard.

      But, then again, I suppose we should not be so quick to judge. There are these hearing boosters made to look like Bluetooth earpieces for the hard-of-hearing to wear. Then you just have to make sure the user is not on a phone when you begin speaking to them.

      Paris, another choking hazard.

    4. Windrose

      Tool hatin'

      Or ... people who need to use both hands for a job while still communicating? Like, y'know, technicians? Or engineers?

      Then again, what do I know. I'm just a geek who much prefer the SAR value of the VMX 100 to the one of the cellphone it talks to, and who find the lack of cables such a benefit when talking to people AND writing code at the same time. Who knew tools could sprout such emotional responses ...

      PS: No, I have no scientific proof one way or the other on the topic of SAR values and cellphones, but frankly less is more when it comes to radiation up by my head.

    5. NogginTheNog

      Occasionally useful

      Apart from the car, the last time I used mine was when I phoned my mum for instructions whilst cooking (and no not beans on toast)!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    But where are her gadgets?

    Ah, I can foresee a new range of Barbie accessories coming....

  6. Blofeld's Cat
    WTF?

    "Don't be fooled by these - I know what I'm doing."

    I presume neither the Society of Women Engineers nor the National Academy of Engineering have actually seen a real female Computer Engineer - except in a press release.

    Judging by the ones we have at our hollowed-out volcano...

    She should be wearing: a Reg "Don't mess with the Moderatrix" T shirt, multi-pocketed work trousers, Doc Martins and a look of utter contempt for her colleagues.

    For her lair you need: a pile of miscellaneous cards, cables and hard drives, an overflowing shelf stuffed with of manuals and odd bits of paper, several part-used boxes of cat 5, a state-of-the-art coffee machine, a stolen ash tray full of screws, a traffic cone, a cattle-prod, a voodoo doll...

    Anyway WTF is "geek chic"?

    1. Broccoli Spears

      Anyway WTF is "geek chic"?

      An oxymoron?

    2. /dev/me

      Just guessing

      "Anyway WTF is "geek chic"?"

      I assume, it's some sort of commercialization of the geek look. You know, it takes years for a black t-shirt to fade to an unnamed shade of gray. That is the geek thing. You can also buy an anthracite colored t-shirt, and that (I think) is geek chick. So from a distance, you look geekish, but up close your shirt looks clean, new, no wrinkles, no holes. Stylish even.

      When you are a geek and you want a bag, you buy a second hand army bag in a surplus store. When you are a chic geek, you buy an olive green bag from a well known and respected (in certain circles) fashion design house.

      But I dunno, I'm just guessing. Am I right?

    3. Blain Hamon
      Coat

      To be honest, it IS Mattel.

      I doubt SWE had much say in the matter after the Barbie people stepped in and decided to pink everything up. It's the same plastic doll wearing the same plastic smile and the same 50s-era eyeshadow with the same unrealistic body proportions.

      At first, I thought, given the sort of shirts that Think Geek and the like have, you could do some actual tie-ins. You know, maybe have a shirt that has a big Autobot or Decepticon logo. But no, those are Hasbro. Maybe 'Sorry, but your princess is in another castle', but that's Nintendo. Me wife suggested "Natural 20", but that's TSR. So I look to see what things Mattel DOES make. Barbie, Hot Wheels, that's pretty much it.

      Actually, Mattel also owns He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. She could have had a tattered shirt that said 'She-Ra' but given Barbie's shape, maybe Skeletor would be more appropriate.

      Mine's the one with Man-At-Arms in the pocket.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    They stole our revolution

    Time for our very own Techie Sindy and her NTK Elite teeshirt methinks.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Real Engineers

    Real engineers need an engineering degree, without one your not actually an engineer.

    This is actually recognised in most developed countries of the world. Without a degree your a technician or repairman.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Real engineers?

      WTF? We're talking about a toy not a "real engineer". Anyway give me a technician with years of experience over a "real engineer" with a freshly minted degree any day.

    2. Blain Hamon
      Headmaster

      Real engineers build engines?

      So, um, why do you say she doesn't have said engineering degree? Or is Dentist barbie practicing without a license as well?

      I will note, despite having said magic slip of paper myself, an engineering degree is a poor judge of someone's programming ability. And pointing out that the term engineer has been diluted only reminds us of nascent and immature computing, as a whole, is.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Wot he said

      Heartily concur,

      With an Engineering Degree an employer can at least be assured you have a "Proper" Degree and not one of the Mickey Mouse ones churned out by the rebranded polytechnics, though to be fair, when they were Polytechnics they excelled at their remit of teaching Technology. Sadly the rush to growth by the new "Universities" has resulted in a lowering of academic standards ( UEA is a particularly bitter example ) and a substantial number of disillusioned and indebted graduates who now realise that their degrees are worthless and that they are tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Real plumbers

      Real plumbers need certification, registration and license, without them you're not actually a plumber.

      This is actually recognised in most developed countries of the world. Without a license your an apprentice, journeyman or Mr. fixit.

      Then again you could say the same for doctors, electricians, lawyers, masons. Every group has their way of restricting access to professions in order to keep rates up. Depending on how good their group is at influencing pols, you can't even fix your own sink legally. Heck, I've even seen states where flower arranging required testing and licensure. About the only thing that I've never seen that didn't require at least some brains is politician.

    5. LaeMing
      Boffin

      Or an "Officer"

      Apparently I joined the armed forces without knowing it! I still insist on calling myself a "field technician". I'm good enough at my job I don't need a fancy-sounding-but-meaningless title!

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Real engineers ... don't bother

      So without a degree you're a 'technician or repairman'? What a load of male bovine excrement - and sounds suspiciously like the usual tired line that the BCS (or whatever they're called this month) have been trotting out.

      Personally I'd prefer to work alongside a colleague who had demonstrated some professional achievement. Note that a degree is _not_ the only way to do this - which means that the talented individuals who've spent their time in the trenches to good effect would also qualify. Otherwise you're in HR La-la Land where they'd prefer to take a snot-nosed uni escapee to that grizzled campaigner with a good history of achieved projects.

      Back onto the subject - when I went to the Mattel shop, no sign of the new Comp Eng Barbie - just curious you understand... Such disappointment! Mind you, I've been lucky enough to be able to work alongside some real great female engineer colleagues.

    7. Sean Thompson
      Headmaster

      Real Engineer

      Though I have an engineering degree, I realize that any job title like "Engineer" is based on a job description in a purely competitive manner. If someone has an engineering degree yet works at the local grocery store ringing people up, are they still an engineer? Schools stopped preparing people for a career a long time ago. If someone has proved themselves through merit they should be given the proper title.

    8. Tony S
      FAIL

      Double fail

      And I thought that most people with a degree might know the difference between your & you're - clearly not.

      BTW, IK Brunel didn't have a degree - and he was a REAL engineer.

      (For those that live in the West Country "Oh what an engineer, he used to live 'round here, Isambard Kingdom Brunel")

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    And as "Helpdesk Ken" minces into the office

    with his pastel-coloured shirt open to the navel.

  10. Ian Ferguson
    Grenade

    So whiny

    Come on, at least this is a step in the right direction. I see there's a 'Dentist Barbie' on sale already - do you think that's accurate too? The whole point of Barbie is that kids don't want to play with realistic toys, they want to make believe.

    Having said that, I kind of agree about the bluetooth headset. But at least she has a vaguely geeky T-shirt and a laptop.

  11. Steve Adams
    Paris Hilton

    Photo here

    http://lifewise.canoe.ca/Living/2010/02/12/12857316-reuters.html

    looks like it matches the description in the Reg story :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Photo's wrong somehow

      Photo's wrong somehow. She does not look Indian or Eastern European.

      Me coat, the one with the Red Book of Endangered Species hanging out of the right pocket.

  12. Robin Szemeti
    Paris Hilton

    So what does it do then?

    Presumably, you can't get out of ts box before 11am in the morning, the laptop is permanently attached to its hand and you can only order it by submitting a piece of Perl code less than 103 bytes long that prints out the order form in ASCII?

    Paris, real life Barbie!

  13. Toastan Buttar
    Happy

    Very subtle geek prank

    I'm sure the suits at Mattel are unaware of what phrases are actually spelt out on Barbie's clothes and screen (Hint: convert every 7-bit word to its ASCII equivalent).

  14. THOMAS STEWART VON DRASHEK
    Megaphone

    OLYMPICS in SPACE.

    hi-Ever thought about Oylimpic Games. IN SPACE.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35370181/ns/technology_and_science-space/

  15. Steven Knox
    FAIL

    So...

    Barbie's manufacturers have proven the existence of sample bias?

    "But the ‘Popular Vote’ conducted online during the last month..."

    Wow. An online poll shows a bias towards IT. Stop the presses!

  16. Anonymous Prime
    Grenade

    <BZZZRT> Tee-hee-hee!

    Fear the BOFH Barbie, with her "laptop" whose insides are just a bunch of ni-cads and an inverter wired to all its ports.

    1. Anonymous Prime
      Alert

      addendum(b)

      Dang-- I forgot about the matching cattle prod, portable bulk eraser, and etherkiller.

      Also-- no comment as to what the "B" in "BOFH Barbie" might stand for.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Blondes in charge of the server room!

    Be afraid...

  18. Dana W
    Thumb Up

    Im buying one.

    No, its not perfect, but its at least a good step in the right direction, though I could have skipped the pink laptop.

    As to Bluetooth, I'd rather wear one then be one off those pinheads who drives with a phone in their ear.

    Not all of us get to drive a BMW with Bluetooth in dash connectivity.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      FAIL

      BMW?

      Given BMW's legendarily god-awful integrated phone/bluetooth functions, if you did drive one you'd probably still need an earpiece if you wanted it to do anything useful. Like make a phone call.

      If you really want something that actually works reliably, get any car without and fit an aftermarket Parrott system. Cheaper too.

  19. Mostor Astrakan

    Hmm.. Shows willing but must try harder.

    Real computer engineers do not look like this. She has a HAPPY SMILE for Eris' sake! You want the expression that says "How am I going to explain to these morons that you can't have a hundred people all video-conferencing over a fucking 512Kb/sec ADSL line."

  20. Stone Fox
    Thumb Up

    after seeing a few threads about this

    on a certain imageboard, I can't help but wonder if certain anonymous elements might not have had a hand in this.

    Oh well, I think we can still chalk this up as a win for IT.

  21. William Boyle

    Where's Ken?

    I'm waiting for the followup Ken the computer geek doll with a plastic pocket protector and an XKCD cartoon on his T.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It is just a toy

    that is being used to cynically shape little growing minds.

    Where is the harm in that, sure I am in the middle of Helmand's Province under sniper fire in fear of losing my life, with a cord coming out of my back which if you pull it gives me the compulsion to say some random phrase such as 'Volunteer Needed for Special Mission'. But I don't think playing with Action Men has had any bearing on my future choice of vocation.

  23. xyz Silver badge
    WTF?

    I just had this vision of Dilbert with t*ts

    nuff said...where's the psycho johnny I need help.

  24. Trevor Marron
    Happy

    What about the most expensive Barbie available:

    What about the most expensive Barbie available: The Divorcee Barbie. Costs $2000 but comes with Ken's house, his boat, his car and half his money......

  25. Peter 4

    Pink and frilly

    From a real female computer person - 'Looks a bit pink and frilly to me'.

    'Nuff said.

    P.

  26. Christian Berger

    It would be interresting to see the long term effects

    I mean will a "computer engineer Barbie" inspire girls to think about technology?

  27. Robert E A Harvey
    Paris Hilton

    but but but

    Shirley a real geekete should have unwashed hair, scrunched up with a velcro cable tidy, a spotty face from too much pizza, and full-length jeans gone at the knee? And the laptop should be in one of those fabric shoulderbags you get at trade fairs, advertising Greenspring or Keele or something?

    Nothing like the picture on the left.

  28. Tony Hoyle

    No geek looks like that...

    She looks like a marketing girl on holiday. I expected at least jeans and a t shirt.

    I'd like to know WTF is "geek chic" as well. Wikipedia has a vague description that is singularly unenlighening.

  29. heyrick Silver badge

    Well, almost...

    I like the shirt. Could do with some pizza stains though.

    A Hello Kitty laptop? I guess I could cope with that, so long as you understand that the OS it is running is irrelevant. What matters is that it is stuffed with PDF datasheets, compilers for esoteric hardware, and a creaky old ported version of Wolfenstein (because that had the attitude, all this Doom/Quake nonsense lost the plot).

    I totally absolutely unequivocably agree with the bluetooth. The only people I've seen around here (rural France) with such nonsense are men dressed like sales bods who probably think they are important, and forty year old women dressed like teenagers who probably didn't think at all... If she needs comms, she should have a little radio-headset because we all know distance matters and bluetooth just hasn't got the range.

    Paint those glasses brown, you'd (almost) have geek chic in the form of Lisa Loeb. :-)

    Or bin the glasses, dye the hair black, cut it short - Alex Krotoski.

    @ Blofeld's Cat - how can you post to El Reg without knowing what Geek Chic is? Come on! StephTheGeek? Any cute female who has a map of Akiba to hand (double points if they've actually been there) Extra extra extra if she is wearing the ThinkGeek T-shirt that says "There's no place like 127.0.0.1" (think about it...).

    She is missing an Alice band plus scrunchie because she really doesn't want hair like that flapping around the next time she whacks the laser printer with its own toner cartridge. In fact, printers of any type and hair like that is asking for trouble.

    And where's the bum-bag containing assorted little screwdrivers, multimeter, and pocket 'scope? The scope, incidentally, would have to be a Vellemann kit that she put together one rainy weekend. Maybe even a logic analyser in a grey ABS box with banana plugs on the side. Inside? A PP3 battery and hand-etched board containing some PICs and an FPGA...

    Come on Barbie, do it right!

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Sandals

    I hope shes wearing socks with sandals, or, sorry, not a computer engineer :p

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In this day and age...

    ...I'm surprised Barbie hasn't been replaced by a Bimbo Paris doll or Kendra Bimbo football doll or Herbie Bimbo doll or Britany Bald Head doll or a Kutcher Bimbo Tweeter doll or other highly profitable and socially challenged doll. It's always about the money, ain't it?

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Femenists don't like female computer engineers

    About 20 years ago HP ran a job ad with a pictures of a female computer engineer. This caused a storm of protest from the female media saying it was disgusting that HP could stoop to running an advert like this with a picture of a model, when in fact the lady in question was a computer support engineer complete with a degree to prove it.

    Sadly since those days the numbers of women in real technical positions in the IT industry seems to have dwindled. I spend my life teaching "in depth" technical training and every year the percentage of women in the classes seems to go down to the extent that the women trainers now remark when they get a single one. This not just an issue in the UK at one time there used to be a lot more women in the US working in technical roles, but there too it has declined. Spain still seems to be holding up.

  33. jake Silver badge

    My daughter had something like this.

    A little over 20 years ago, she came home from a slumber-party with her Barbie dressed in Ken's jeans and T-shirt. Other accessories included paddock boots and a riding helmet.

    Her mother asked her why the clothes change ... She replied "She's a programmer." I kinda laughed, and asked her about the boots & hard-hat. She gave me a look like I was a complete idiot and said "Daddy, her horses aren't going to ride themselves!" She wasn't quite five years old.

    Today, my daughter is a programmer, has six horses, and is competitive in the hunter/jumper world, and dressage ... and that old Barbie is sitting on top of one of my bookcases here in the office. After my wedding ring, it's probably my most prized piece of hardware :-)

  34. Rob 5
    FAIL

    Pah!

    When they make a Garcia from Criminal Minds Barbie, then they'll be on the right track.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Welcome

    Only a Computer Engineer would 'get it'

    Am I the only one who, seeing the binary code in question on her laptop screen, did a quick bin-hex calc in my head and was not at all shocked to see what it came out to?????

    Not so much a case of ROTFL, but rather ROTF-DoingSomethingElseEntirely...

    I, for one, welcome the idea of having more Computer Engineers like this. :)

    1. fred #257
      Pint

      Oh bugger!

      I'd expected her laptop to say something subversive - like, 'Sex for sale' at the least - and it was boring.

      (Now I wonder how many other commentards are compelled to dust off their hex editors and ASCII tables and decode it...)

      Incidentally, if she was a IT geek, wouldn't that tee shirt she's wearing count as a huge wank?

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    You geeks are killing me...

    I expected much more from the El Reg crowd, what a disappointment.

    Of course she doesn't have a workplace. ...yet. If sales work out that will obviously come as a future accessory. Obviously you poor lot either never had a sister or girlfriend, or simply didn't pay any attention to either one of them. Or I guess you simply can't imagine the works of the commercial business.

    As for the doll itself.. Guess I met other consultants. Granted; females are rare in the business, but I don't see anything wrong with an engineer who has both a cellphone and a laptop neatly in a separate case. That does cover the standard in the business; she could even easily match your average free-lance consultant.

    Dudes, you're so obsessed with the girly side that you allow your brains to stop functioning. IMO ofcourse. Or this is just me showing his age :)

    1. Elmer Phud

      geeks and fear and loathing

      "Dudes, you're so obsessed with the girly side that you allow your brains to stop functioning. IMO of course. Or this is just me showing his age :)"

      They don't do rational when being faced with wimmin, only knee-(or other part)jerk reactions.

      This is, of course, the Reg comments where the suitability of any actress for Dr Who's assistant is only based on whether the geeks would shag her or not (not that any of them would actually know what to do but they have seen the pictures)

  37. Camilla Smythe

    Connie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    FFS

    Still. I suppose the average real computer engineer relies on the compiler to sort out his atrocious abuse of its native language and keeps a call to .NET in his back pocket for job interviews.

  38. Paul2724
    Happy

    Haha

    Nice try but a search for "Computer Engineer Barbie" (or variations thereof) on the shop you linked finds no hits :)

    1. MrT

      Try www.barbie.com/vote ...

      Computer Engineer Barbie was winner of the popular vote on Barbie's next career.

      Alongside girls' vote winner 'News Anchor Barbie' who actually looks more like a roving reporter than a news anchor. Or is it Tricia 'Barbie' Takanawa...? Next, Ken grows a big chin, changes his name to 'Glen' and is available with either an airline pilot's uniform or a thong

  39. Sean Thompson
    Badgers

    What is up with 61?

    I'd much prefer 1000101.

    1. Charles Manning

      re: What is up with 61?

      Is that what they mean when they demand more girls in technical positions?

  40. Sean Thompson
    FAIL

    Looks more like a marketing chick.

    I was hoping for more of an Abby Sciuto (NCIS TV show) look.

    http://ncis-fanatic.tripod.com/id5.html

  41. Geoffrey W

    Bluetooth headsets

    You must all be posting from the UK if you think no one uses them. Here in the USA I see those things all the time. People walk round Walmart (men, women, teens, you name it) chattering away quite happily. I thought they were all talking to themselves until I spotted the little ear pieces.

    Personally I don't mind them one bit. I think the Brit's cynicism about this (I AM British) is just insecurity and fear of being laughed at. I have noticed since I left Blighty that the rest of the world is considerably less stuffy about many things than I, and all my fellow natives, with their clenched buttocks, gritted teeth, and sneering laughter, are. Talk about repressed.

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I was hoping...

    ...she would be something like Lisbeth Salander, a little more black and no pink at all.

  43. Annwyn

    Good Game?

    Computer Engineer Barbie bares a striking resemblance to "Good Game" presenter, Hex (Aussie gaming TV show that airs on the ABC) – just swap that bizarre binary t-shirt for a Good Game one and hey presto!

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    Will they make one with a pull-string speech option?

    I'm dying to suggest some suitable catchphrases but Sarah B will probably filter me :^)

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Which languages does Barbie program in?

    Perhaps she was debugging a tail recursive function in Erlang to print her name, as this is what's on her netbook screen ...

    [2#01000010,2#01100001,2#01110010,2#01100010,2#01101001,2#01100101,2#01000010,2#01100001].

    "BarbieBa"

  46. JohnG

    Re-enactments?

    Can we expect to see the new Barbies in some future El Reg re-enactments, in place of the the Playmobil characters?

  47. Fluffykins Silver badge

    @Real Engineers 14th February 2010 13:48

    Obviously not a qualification in English, though. "You're" or "you are" maybe, but not "your"

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    Follow code below,...

    while :

    do

    echo "Ha! "

    done

  49. John 62

    The Simpsons was here first

    with Lisa Lionheart

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Geek Chic

    boy you lot most live under rocks, Geek Chic was about turn of the millennium, it was the look of casual clothing, well cut, shirt out, little bit prepy with edge, pair of trainers, perhaps some cheap glasses.

    Truth is most computer folk, wear nothing, a dressing gown or in company; combats generally black or grey, perhaps a shirt or t-shirt: dark, and clumping boots normally CAT.

    For most tech folk it is about functionality, so a G-Shock is the watch normally with RadioTime. Combats because less chance of rip, and enough pockets. Most will keep a jacket on even inside, something to hide in, the M68 jacket is becoming a bit of a symbol, the regiment faded cut is quite cool.

    Suits are a no no really, shame as they can be fun, and hell some wear them because it rebels against their fold and, well, we all like a rebel, but then you have to prove you can code, because as we all know most suits cannot code.

    The Barbie Doll here, is a bit like Legally Blonde where she dresses as she thinks a lawyer would dress, but of course we all fancy Reese in her knickers or when she tones it down a bit.

    Angelina Jolie in Hackers is the sexier dresser, and you believe she can code, she nailed that roll, but it was the look of disdain that really sold it - and that is the look of the developer, it just says 'You are a lower life form, I want a refund on that oxygen you stole.'

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Of course that

      should be the M65 Jacket and not the M68 which is more often associated with a gun.

  51. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Wrong clothes

    Where's the Oracle/Cisco/Microsoft/Sun/insert-large-tech-company-here branded polo shirt or jacket??

  52. Yorkshirepudding
    Coat

    there can be only one

    queen of the geeks/nerds

    and her name is penny

    knock knock

    penny

    knock knock

    penny...?

    mines the one with the tbbt fanboy card in

  53. LinkOfHyrule
    Grenade

    I want fangirl Barbie

    Linux Barbie: She's eats lentils and goes to furry conventions (dressed as a penguin)

    Windows Barbie: She's crap at her job and wears a lot of blue

    Mac Barbie: She's always banging on about how she's better than everyone else.

    Amiga Barbie: Always talking about how she kicked ass 20 years ago but she's well past it it now (dried up has been)

    See, I do take the mick out of all platforms, bloody mac fanbois always saying I only pick on them!!!!!

  54. lovelyshady
    FAIL

    Hollow Victory

    Well, that was a pointless excercise. As usual, Mattel twist the image of something to fit their range of shite. When the generation of girls who buy/are given this (if they make it that far) actually make it into engineering jobs (with or without degrees) they are going to be very disappointed....she doesn't even have pockets ffs! Where do you put the screwdrivers? How do you crawl under tables in trousers that tight? Not enough black or stripes or pockets IMOH.

    Whatever next "Imagine Engineer"?

  55. Joe User
    Thumb Down

    What a joke

    It looks like Brittany Spears' idea of a computer engineer....

  56. gimbal
    Pint

    Mattel

    ...perhaps can't see the forest for the trees, when it comes to the female side of what keeps our internets, corporate networks, and stand-alone computer systems working.

    So, big surprise. The preppie-doll-company wound up making a preppie-looking "computer geektette". I expect that some creative girls, out there, shall wind up making their own modifications to GeekBarbie's ensemble, to make it more honest looking (as any amount of honesty would do, at this point) - to which prospect, I say, hear hear.

  57. Graham Bartlett

    Gotta love the *GUYS* who put this together

    Nice one Mattel, you've got a computer geek Barbie. And what's her career choice? Oh yeah, building baby monitors. FFS, fellas!

  58. LC
    Go

    I want one

    She'd fit in perfectly with the female IT staff around here (on dress-down Fridays, anyway). Being a female engineer doesn't mean you have to wear black, or combats, or Doc Marten boots. This doll should demonstrate to girls who love fashion dolls that working with computers doesn't mean you have to give up on nice clothes.

    I agree she could use more pockets though.

  59. KHL
    Joke

    OMG!

    My sister wrote:

    > Possibility of many fun accessories. Barbie workstation with three monitors. Barbie rackmount server. Barbie Aeron chair. Barbie flatbed scanner, network printer, UPS, etc.

    And don't forget Barbie Stock Options, Barbie Dotcom Bubble Bath,Barbie V.C. Washout, and the Barbie's Parent's Basement Bedroom Set.

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