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[stlunatic0124]

Hi all, first post here.  I hope this is in the right section but please forgive me if it is not, as I am sure most of you are still able to answer this question.

I am interested in becoming a patent examiner and eventually, one day, a patent attorney.  I am heading into my 5th year of Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland.  I have a 3.3 GPA and have 3 summers of internship experience (including 2 summers at Lockheed Martin).  I was looking at the requirements on the USPTO website, and what confused me was this paragraph:

A. Have at least a bachelor degree in professional Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering. To be acceptable, the curriculum must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

or the statement that I would need to take the EIT.  Is this true?  Do I need to have all of these ME classes to get a job?  Or do I need (or is it suggested) to pass the EIT/FE before applying to be a patent examiner?  Or am I okay to apply where I am right now?  I am graduating in May and am looking to start mid-way through the summer.  Also, does pretty much everyone out of college start as a GS-5, or is it possible to start as a GS-7?

[mk1023]

There's a 100+ page on working at the PTO in the "Becoming a Patent Agent/Lawyer" subforum.

If you're fresh out of college with a 3.0+ GPA you'll start at GS-07/10. Less than 3.0 and you'd start at GS-05/10. If you have a masters you'd start at least at GS-09/8. Years of work experience (not internships) can also increase starting level.

[iamlegend]

I'd start as an engineer first to see if you like it because once you become a patent examiner there's no going back. Engineering Employers look down upon working at the USPTO. I'm a patent examiner at the GS-12 level. I have two years experience at the PTO. I started as a GS-9. Its a very hard job. Its like writing a term paper everyday of your life. On top of that you have to fight with attorneys to prove that your art is good enough to stand rejected against their invention. I have not allowed one patent as of yet. I've done a few hundred now. I work in the software art unit. My advice to you...make sure you know what you want to go in before plunging in.

[HITMANVQ35]

what do you mean there's no going bacK???

how do you explain the 50% turn over rate within 3 years and 70% in 5 years?? Where do you think all those people are going? Maybe some to law firms and law schools but I'd imagine a good amount are landing engineering jobs. So it's not a blackhole once you come in. You can dig yourself a hole out of it.

My advice, do not go into IP just for the money. I don't think it'll be satisfying at all even as an attorney. Because you have to put up with all the crappy office actions that PTO puts out and God help you if they use machine translation of foreign patents.

[mk1023]

I wouldn't want to work in software arts. You don't have to be a CS major to know that searching software claims isn't going to be easy. I'd guess that software and business method require more BSing than other areas. My office actions are more like paint by numbers than writing a term paper. I've allowed 24 cases in 1.5+ years.

There's always going back into engineering if you want. Just save up money and get a one year masters.