Another burnout

[ficfre]

Considering possibly transitioning into something else in the next couple of years. Just want something easier/less stress. Monkey-work sounds really good atm.

Have been through many (voluntary) changes lately (good ones, but still) and I'd say ~65% burnout is due to that and not the job itself...so eventually once things stabilize I might decide to stay where I am.

My main requirement is location independence. Know of many location-independent CPAs.  Apparently in some states you can get admitted to CPA exam with just 15 accounting credits. Does anyone know any patent attorneys turned CPA?

Any other ideas? TIA

[smgsmc]

If you do strictly patent prosecution, there are firms that will let you work remotely.  Or are you fed up with patent prosecution?

[ficfre]

Ah yeah forgot to mention, I do currently work remotely. It's the prosecution work I'm fed up with

[abc123]

How about another area of law? Or maybe some type of work you have always wanted to do? For the life of me, I cannot see why anyone would
want to become an accountant other than job security. Which is fine, but there is a reason why there are lots of great accounting jokes out there.
Seems like you would just be trading one eye shade for another.

[fewyearsin]

How about another area of law? Or maybe some type of work you have always wanted to do? For the life of me, I cannot see why anyone would
want to become an accountant other than job security. Which is fine, but there is a reason why there are lots of great accounting jokes out there.
Seems like you would just be trading one eye shade for another.

This.  You're trading one boring job for possibly the only more boring job on the planet.  I'd give yourself a bit more time in prosecution (maybe a year) and see if you can't find a different firm or different type of technology within prosecution or maybe focus on appeals or IPR or find some other area that still makes use of the skills you spent years developing.

[abc123]

or different type of technology

Same is true of patent examining. If you get in a rut, it is often a good idea to change arts. For example, I would think the AI art would have lots of cases pending, and would be fairly interesting. And most people can probably make the switch after some self-study.

[Tobmapsatonmi]

To answer the question in the OP, I do not know anyone who's gone from patent prosecution to accounting.  I do have a couple of CPA friends who (from bits dropped here and there) don't make anything near what a similarly successful patent attorney does.

What about in-house prospects? 

Patent pros is still part of my job, but it's maybe 20-35% of it.  It's a lot more interesting in-house if you get embedded with the R&D, project and commercial teams and get to know the business sides of things.