|
Upcoming Job Openings Position: Patent Examiners Location: Alexandria VA (Washington DC area) Requirements: B.S. in Science or Engineering. Higher degrees or high academic achievement can result in higher placement. This is a US Federal Government position. Full US citizenship required, plus a clean enough record to pass a Public Trust background check About the Job: The US Patent office is close to restarting hiring of new Patent Examiners (likely a few hundred openings). The position involves reading applications and claims to inventions, searching prior art databases, and writing reports about if an application complies with US Patent law. 6 month intensive training provided. Benefits including: Multiple health care plans to chose from Defined benefit pension + TSP (like a 401k, with very low fees) 40 hour workweek, paid overtime for extra work completed Flexible work schedule Mass transit subsidy (including anything that takes Metro's Smartrip, Virginia VRE, and Maryland MARC) After two years, potential for full-time telework Salary: Here's the table: http://apps.opm.gov/SpecialRates/package/table057601012010.html Most people will come in as a Grade 7, step 10 ($68k). If you have IP experience or a MS the start point is I think (not sure on this one) Grade 9 step 7 ($73k). My take about the job: First the cons: I'll be honest, this job isn't for everyone. The work is done on a rather aggressive quota system with a set number of hours per application, but you are pretty much on your own as far as keeping yourself on track. If you don't have trouble setting goals for yourself as to what work you will get done in a week, you should be fine. It involves a lot of reading, and a lot of playing with words to look for double meanings and such. I would recommend going on google patents and reading some patents on various things, paying particular attention to the claims. Oh, and nearly all of your communications regarding the applications will be with attorneys. For those of you who would have to move, note that the DC area is very expensive to live in. On the pro side: As long as you keep up with the quota you are pretty golden. The other Examiners are in generally very ready to help out if you have questions or run into a problem with an application. The promotions to higher positions are non-competitive merit based (meaning you don't have to fight somebody for the higher spot), all the way up to GS-14 with a $140k per year salary. And after 2 years and reaching GS-12 (normally two or three promotions away at hiring) you can work full time from home only checking in at the office for two days every two weeks. Federal benefits are nice, and Flextime is wonderful. Also there is some serious job security because there is an absurd backlog of applications to be examined. I was talking with someone about these positions coming up, and they noted that Electrical Engineers are rather strongly wanted. If you have particular experience with battery systems (charging, control, etc) please let me know via PM. I will place a new entry in this thread when the actual positions come up on USAjobs but I thought people would want to know they are in the pipeline.
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2010 04:46
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 7, 2024 18:46 |
|