Technology can be so much more than a flashlight made from a roll of toilet paper...

It was my birthday a few days ago and without going into detail about exactly how many candles were on the cake, I can say that - after completing my studies - I have now been on the labor market for 11 years. And it made me think about the career choices we make, often at a very young age.

By the time I was in high school, I had already made up my mind - something with a focus on communication and society. I chose social studies in high school and media and communication studies in college. It felt like an active choice, but now, with a number of years of distance, I realize that it may not have been quite so simple. Perhaps it was as much about opting out as choosing.

I remember back to year 8a and my technology teacher Pär. He struggled with trying to enthuse us in the amazingness of being able to build your own flashlight from a couple of batteries, a lot of freezer tape and an old toilet roll (which we also had to bring from home, because the school didn't have any such resources... at that time either). Despite Pär's attempts to make the subject of technology fun, that interest, that curiosity that made me want to know more, to learn more, was never awakened.

In my current job, I meet many engineers. And if I put it this way; had I known then what exciting industry awaited me if I had chosen the nature program instead, I might have thought completely differently, made other choices. And that's also where I think the root cause of why so few - not least girls - choose the technical path lies. They simply know too little about what an engineering career can entail.

Despite the fact that it was a few years ago that I myself was in eighth grade, far too little has happened in the context of technology since then. At the end of May this year, the Swedish Schools Inspectorate presented a report in which it examined technology teaching in 22 primary schools. The results show that technology subjects are often neglected and that the quality of teaching needs to be improved in several ways, including making it more relevant and interesting for pupils. The link between a torch made from a roll of toilet paper and a job at Google seems... simply very far-fetched.

So my call to all engineering teachers out there has to be: show the breadth of what engineering actually encompasses, include the IT aspect and show all the opportunities that a career in engineering can provide. And to you, headteachers, make teaching more fun and more real for your teachers by signing up your school to Next Up - our own initiative to inspire young people, especially girls, to make study and career choices that lead to a future in the IT sector.

PS! I never got my flashlight to work properly, maybe it was the batteries or too little tape... Still, I work for the IT industry today. Albeit not as an engineer.