Every year, poor old Barbie gets laid off from work (she’s been made redundant 125 times in her career). Luckily, fans from all over the world can vote for her new path in life. So, she just bounces right back! For 2010, the career choices on offer included an environmentalist (what?! She’s sooo plastic), a news anchor, an architect, a surgeon or computer engineer.

The overwhelming choice among the girls was news anchor. But never underestimate the power of the geek. Techies in the deepest, darkest depths of the blogosphere, on Twitter and Facebook launched their own campaign for computer engineer Barbie. Mattel’s answer? Go with both. After all, the computing industry needs more girls. And what better way to persuade them than Barbie?!

So meet Barbie, computer engineer, out winter 2010. I like the geek chic binary code patterned tee (I’d almost wear that), spangled black leggings and I’d love that smartphone, Bluetooth headset, laptop travel bag, and last but not least – a pink laptop (gah! So three seasons ago, Barbie. It’s all safari this year).

Though being a little geeky myself, I did notice that the binary on the laptop reads “barbiebarbiebarbie” in ASCII. You go, geek girl.