tell us about your job

[Marc H]

What do you do? I manage ~15 patent examiners, who decide whether a patent applicant will receive a United States Patent for his invention.

Do you like it? Yes.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? Engineering knowledge, now combined with law degree. Attention to detail.

What kind of people do best in your work? Socially impaired individuals [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] (well, maybe) who can understand highly technical subject matter and make themselves understood in the English language. Actually, that's more true of examiners. As you move into management, people skills get more important.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? Bachelor's in some form of engineering. Legal training is not necessary, but like chicken soup, it couldn't hurt.

What is a typical day like? Review a bunch of examiners' decisions on patentability ... and/or meet with attorneys who want us to reconsider our position ... and/or sit through various less-than-scintillating meetings ... and/or perform various administrative tasks, like putting someone in for promotion, doing some special project for my boss, etc.

What kind of problems do you encounter? I have one or two employees who can't really do the job, so I have to spend a lot of my time monitoring their work product. Occasionally I have to field a phone call from an attorney who is unhappy with something we have done (or failed to do).

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration - see semi-incompetent employees, above. Telling them for the sixth, or sixteenth time, how to do something they've just done wrong AGAIN. Elation - seeing somebody you hired and trained move up the ranks and become independent, or even a managerial colleague.

How much do you make? Just north of $100K, plus potential for half-decent bonus (a few thousand) once a year.

How much can one expect to make in your position? Not much more than I'm making now. One could make a bit more by moving up the management structure, but NOT a lot more, unlike private enterprise. If I left to practice law on the outside, I could make substantially more money within a few years.