The Industrial technology program (ITP) in Sweden suffers from a declining interest and industry experience difficulties in recruiting. Although the choice of ITP pays off in the labour market, this education does not seem to attract young people. Based on the fact that fewer applicants also means fewer trained professionals in the industry and given that the industry is dependent on competent personnel, I am in my study interested in examining the attractiveness of ITP. The material collection has taken place through semi-structured interviews with a vocational teacher and three vocational students about their perceptions of what is positive or negative about the industry and ITP. The attractiveness of ITP is in a close relationship with how industrial companies and industrial work are perceived by industrial students and industrial teachers. The result points to a paradoxical picture of the attractiveness of ITP where the status of industrial companies is important and it can vary depending on the type of company. For example, whether it is a local industrial workshop or a world-famous international industrial company. The paradoxical picture also includes whether the industrial company has had a secure or insecure form of employment with layoffs and operations moving to other countries. Even the type of industrial work tasks, for example whether the tasks are hard and arduous industrial work or it is varied and manageable, are included in this paradoxical picture.