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(Message started by: ramzie on Nov 3^rd, 2005, 1:56am)

Title: In college, tired of engineering...
Post by ramzie on Nov 3^rd, 2005, 1:56am

Hey, I'm in my sophomore year doing EE, I'm just getting bored of engineering, and working at some technology company is not really what I want to do. But I would like to be a patent agent or lawyer. Can someone who just got out of college get a job at a patent office? Or do they require experience from a tech job?

Title: Re: In college, tired of engineering...
Post by Isaac Clark on Nov 3^rd, 2005, 4:54am

The PTO hires people right out of college. I'm not sure that being a patent examiner or being a patent practitioner would be a good fit for someone who is tired of engineering.

Already burned out on engineering as a sophomore in college? My recollection is that I took my first real EE courses as a sophmore, with my freshman course schedule comprising physics, math, and humanities courses.

Title: Re: In college, tired of engineering...
Post by melwrc on Nov 3^rd, 2005, 7:43am

There are all sorts of non-tech jobs out there for engineers that don't want to do engineering. If you keep your grades up, you will have many non-engineer options including law in other areas besides patents.

Title: Re: In college, tired of engineering...
Post by patento on Nov 3^rd, 2005, 7:13pm

completely agree with the statement "The PTO hires people right out of college". It is apparent from the quality of OAs in CS and EE.

Frankly, USPTO should train these rookies (specially the ones who have no prior experience in technology) for a year or so before letting them touch the cases.

on 11/03/05 at 04:54:04, Isaac Clark wrote:

Title: Re: In college, tired of engineering...
Post by CNJ on Nov 4^th, 2005, 6:50pm

Obviously, the better you are in engineering, the more impressed your clients will be and the more confident they have in you. Based on my limited experience in patenting, if you are an agent, being proficient in engineering and having experience in engineering will enhance your marketability.

Title: Re: In college, tired of engineering...
Post by franlorin on Nov 5^th, 2005, 3:01am

I'm not sure having an engineering degree or any technical ability is a requirement in the IP field at all, but it can certainly help

for example, there is a new IP company located near the USPTO (across from the nearby King Street metro station) called "Landon IP" that is run by people who have absolutely no prior IP experience - yet they were recently awarded a major contract by the USPTO to perform searches for PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) applications for at least the next year - the owner, David Hunt, seems to have come from a family with lots of money and "bought" a company outright called "Landon, Stark, Cantwell and Paxton", since then renamed "Landon IP" in 2000 or 2001

so, having technical knowledge is not quite as important as having considerable money to enter the IP field - however, these types of companies DO need persons who are well-versed in the technical disciplines, and who they often treat as expendable commodities

nevertheless, the ultimate clients, who are corporations and inventors, really need the abilities of the technical and linguistically competent PI practitioner

Fran Lorin
www.patent.0catch.com

Title: Re: In college, tired of engineering...
Post by guest on Nov 8^th, 2005, 1:04pm

I just took a pop-up quiz on Yahoo Finance, and the question asked:

"What is the most common undergraduate degree among CEOs at S&P 500 companies?

Accounting
Business Administration
Economics
Engineering
Liberal Arts"

Here is the answer:

"While 38% of S&P 500 CEOs have an MBA, most of them did not start off studying business administration in college. According to the "2004 CEO Study", conducted by the executive search firm Spencer Stuart, approximately 21% of S&P 500 CEOs majored in Engineering. The second most popular major was Business Administration (15%) followed by Economics (11%), Liberal Arts (10%) and Accounting (6%). The University of Wisconsin and Harvard tied as the most popular undergraduate universities among CEOs. Both count 3% of current CEOs among their alumnae. Another 3% of current S&P 500 CEOs never even graduated from college, including Steve Jobs who dropped out of Reed College and now leads Apple Computer (AAPL) and Pixar (PIXR). "

So there you go - engineering undergrad doesn't mean engineering future.

Title: Re: In college, tired of engineering...
Post by franlorin on Nov 13^th, 2005, 3:22am

that's good to know, Guest - maybe the OP ramzie should try getting an MBA before going to law school?

thanks to the WWW, a person can become technically competant in a wide range of subjects - for example, howstuffworks.com is OK for some basic information - and wikipedia.org is great for more detailed information - then, if a person really wants to learn the details on any technical subject, they can read the information in patents - it's all free! (except for the internet connection fee, of course, if you can't get to a library)

a professor of mine once said to our class: "I am not here to teach you the subject matter, I am here to teach you how to teach yourself"