Mattel’s most recent Barbie® creation, the “Computer Engineer Doll” sports the sort of geek that might fit-in at our office. While I won’t pretend to be dissapointed that it has taken 124 careers for Barbie to become a Computer Engineer, it does bring some excitement to our industry.

I participate regularly with local education institutions who look to help educate students in technology and thought this would present an opportunity for us to give Barbie® a few words of advice as she begins her new career.

image by Mattel

Lose the Bluetooth during meetings. I’m impressed with your use of technology, but make sure you listen to the clients that are in front of you, without getting distracted.

You can’t survive on your looks. It’s true in every industry, you find people who want to survive on their looks may find themselves attracting attention, but soon it won’t be the kind of exposure they want. Study hard Barbie.

Demonstrate flexibility. While you can position yourself for success, don’t expect to have that pose everyday.  After a late night of implementation and troubleshooting, you will learn to become more flexible.

Maintain a well-rounded background. Keep up your grades in your business classes too, you might be surprised when you are asked to understand a balance sheet or write correspondence for a non-technical client.

Don’t talk down to your non-technical friends. Ken will ditch you faster than you can pull out a credit card if you become a tech know-it-all. If you want to keep your friends riding in the pink Jeep, you will learn that you must be able to communicate without displaying arrogance.

We wish you good luck in your new career path and if you haven’t found a place to land, send a resume over to Five Nines’ career page, we could always use a little more fashion in our engineering teams.

-Ben Pankonin