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FYI, the current TSP max is $19,500 a year, which conveniently works out to $750 a biweek.
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Jul 11, 2020 16:18
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Xelkelvos posted:So I've finally gotten my Firm Offer from the IRS in Philly for a GS-5, but I still have my Tentative offer from Fort Hamilton in NY for a GS-7 (and I think they're getting frustrated with the HR side since it's been taking a while on even the fingerprinting and background check for a Secret Clearance). My instinct says I should turn down the firm offer at this point with the assumption of the Tentative offer going though, but idk how long it'll take at this point which is where I'm second guessing myself. I assume I wasn't picked by the USPTO after my interview since I've not heard word from them. What sort of position at the USPTO? Asking since that's where I work. Things are odd right now with the main campus still mostly being closed. I could see hiring being delayed due to the building closures.
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Jul 12, 2020 04:37
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Xelkelvos posted:Patent Examiner It's a good job, with non-supervisory promotion potential up to GS-14. The downside of the job is quotas (production). And it offers full time telework from anywhere in the lower 48 states (plus Puerto Rico) if you choose it. People in my art unit range from Miami to upstate New York to Chicago. But the academy setting for new hires really requires at least a few weeks of at the office, in-person time. The Alexandria campus only recently reopened, but you still need management permission to enter one of the buildings, so I really can't say when to expect a call back. There was no plan in place beyond just authorize everyone to telework all the time, so bear with them.
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Jul 13, 2020 21:14
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Xelkelvos posted:so idk. I still have my IRS job at least. USPTO gave me an email saying that I was qualified and my application will keep moving forward, but I may not get in this period due to cut-off dates though I'll still be considered for the next period if the position is still open, which is good I guess. Shoot me an email at my user name at Gmail with a few details and I can see about hounding the HR contact about what is causing the delay, even if it is just that they have no plans for patent academy classes because of the pandemic.
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Aug 1, 2020 17:01
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Delorence Fickle posted:USCIS should copy USPTO's homework in regards to digitizing everything, including petitions and hearings. Exactly. It was a lot of growing pain back in 2004-2005 switching from paper to all digital, but teleworking started in 2006. I've personally been at home since 2007.
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Sep 27, 2020 14:10
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I've been happy with the coverage offered by GEHA. I'm in Virginia, so I have no idea what coverage differences there would be in other states. However, my family has had two out of state emergency visits and ended paying very little (I recall it being zero for one ER visit in Ohio).
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Oct 2, 2020 19:35
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laxbro posted:I don't know how anyone saves enough cash to put 20% towards a house around here. I bought my first house in the DC area with less than 3% down through FHA loans for first time home buyers. The idea that you must have 20% down is a fiction from the 1980s.
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Dec 2, 2020 03:12
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The ladder for STEM majors as Patent Examiners is pretty keen, most start at GS 7 or 9, with steady progression to 11 (one year), 12 (one year), 13 (one year plus pass a certification exam) and 14 (extensive work review by managers required) without going into management. First line managers, who must have been GS 14 examiners for at least a year get nice GS 15 positions.
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Mar 8, 2021 21:34
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GD_American posted:Jesusssssss. I'm assuming mostly engineering background for these positions, no? Engineering (any discipline), computer science, biology, chemistry, and biochemistry. There's probably a few more sciences that are acceptable, but those are the major ones.
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Mar 9, 2021 17:40
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laxbro posted:This is mostly true. There is at least one non-stem patent examiner role: Design Patent Examiner: I always forget about the design examiners, even though they're run through my tech center. I can assure you, patent examiners go right on up to gs-14. I'm on step 8. It's been that way since long before I started 20+ years ago.
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Mar 10, 2021 08:10
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Howard Phillips posted:Is the job interesting though? I would love to leave this stressful DAWIA job for an ez and interesting 14 job. Interesting? On most days, yes. Easy, almost never. Quotas exist for examiners, with the quota getting higher the bigger your GS level. The quota varies depending upon what technology you work in, and can range from about 9 hours to pick up an application, read through it and understand it, search for what already exists, and write up an work product ("Office action") telling the Applicant why they don't get a patent yet. Some technologies end up with as many as 20 hours to do the same thing. Some technologies have a large percentage of applications that sail through on the first action to allowance (i.e.-allowed to become a patent), I just don't work in one of those fields, so about 98% of new applications get at least one rejection from me. Justus posted:I didn't end up working for PTO so take this with a grain of salt, but I'll bet it's one of those things where you technically compete for a 14 after doing a normal ladder to 13, complete with a new USAjobs listing and a whole rear end interview process, but unless something's gone wrong, it can be reasonable to expect grabbing a 14 position if you've done the job well enough for a couple of years (...and uh, get along well enough with your chain of command). That's how things work for engineers where I'm at. The FPL for engineering new hires is 12 here, but realistically you'll never find any engineer that's been here more than 4 years or so still working under a GS-13 level, unless they're just the sorriest engineer in one sense or another. There's no competition against other examiners for the 14 position (or any position on the ladder for that matter). The Office (USPTO) wants everyone to make it to GS-14 because they get the most work production per salary from 14s. The transition from 13 to 14 requires passing of the "full signatory authority program" where managers do a thorough review of your work and decide whether or not your work is acceptable to give you authority to act without a review from someone who already has full signatory authority.
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Mar 10, 2021 19:28
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Thesaurus posted:If any of you feds speak Spanish, i saw this government-wide detail opportunity today: Just got an agency wide email about this detail looking for volunteers. It has an eye opening quote that isn't in the posting on USAJobs. "This detail will be physically and emotionally challenging."
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Apr 12, 2021 21:23
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Someone I know is trying to apply for a position at the National Endowment for the Humanities. The listing states the location as Washington DC, but also listed as telework eligible. My reading of that is that the position would be in DC with potential part-time telework, as opposed to full time telework. Is that correct? Listing for reference: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/598743700
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Apr 27, 2021 18:17
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EconOutlines posted:The sweet spot (at least in the two series that I've worked in, 2210 and 201) seems to be non-supervisory 13 fully remote. Sounds like a dream, especially if you don't live in a high COL area. Can confirm that fully remote non-supervisory 14 is great. And living at the edges of the Greater DC area helps to balance cost and access to fun stuff to do.
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Jun 6, 2021 21:32
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Justus posted:This talk about PTO got me thinking. I like my job right now quite a bit, and I'm happy I can do it for mid-band GS-13 money. But it's digital electronics design and prototyping, which means I can telework a bit, but it absolutely cannot be done 100% remote...and I would love to find a way to take my design engineering experience somehow to a job that could, and that seems like a possible answer to that question. I've heard of some people coming in as GS-9s or possibly 11s, but there's a trade off as the production quota is directly tied to your GS level, with each GS level increase meaning that much more work required to not get warnings/fired (which does happen often enough that most people know at least one person who has been let go, er... asked to resign so that the PTO doesn't have to fire them). Also, promotion from 7 to 9 to 11 to 12 to 13 is each one year at each grade level, with a requirement of meeting reasonable levels of production and quality. The jump from 13 to 14 takes about 18 months along with a thorough review of your work, since GS-14 is where you become a primary examiner and are considered to be trusted enough to not have someone else sign off on you work. There's no competition for GS-14 slots, it is based solely on your work. The PTO literally wants every examiner to get there because primary examiners have the highest production to salary ratio. I went through the hiring process four presidents ago (Clinton), so I'm not up on the current hiring process.
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Sep 30, 2021 04:51
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El Mero Mero posted:Serious answer though is that it's not about the pay, but about the trajectory. You need to wait two years to move each step past 4, but only 1 year for the first four. Each step is a flat 3% increase. Don't forget that it bumps to every three years for the step 7 to step 10 bumps. In full, it takes 18 years to go from step 1 to step 10.
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Jan 28, 2022 23:43
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Delorence Fickle posted:Here at USPTO a large swath of the application processing staff just retired and we need help badly. (How I got a promoted) That explains why amendments have been slow to show up on my docket! Is that position no longer referred to as an LIE (legal instruments examiner) or are you in a different position? I can confirm the USPTO as a great telework option, I haven't been to the physical buildings in Alexandria since May 2017.
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Feb 18, 2022 05:13
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lwoodio posted:I already lost my TSP password and the reset email doesn't do anything. I generated a password with Chrome but accidentally overwrote it because every field on the multi factor login process considers itself a password field and tries to get Chrome to update your password to the security question response. I had a similar experience with the new system, except I think I had a typo in my username when creating the account. There's no way in the system to actually input your email or other identifying information to find out what your username actually is. I'm going to let the high traffic volumes die down and then call and try and find the solution.
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Jun 2, 2022 22:18
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Xelkelvos posted:Getting interviewed by USPTO this week. Ngl, I'm getting pretty comfy in Philly even if I'm only lukewarm at the position I'm currently in. I'll probably ask what sort of day to day is like for them to so how comparatively intense their job duties are. I guess I'm glad to see that your application from last year was still in the system. I remember reaching out to you last year (or was it in 2020?) about trying to contact a supervisor in a particular area to see if they were hiring. I definitely never heard back. Examination is tough, but the non-competitive promotion potential to GS-14 combined with one of the best telework programs in the government help balance against the workloads. The quota system is highly dependent upon which area of technology you get assigned to, which often gets changed for new hires. The day-to-day process is pick up an application, get a handle on what the invention is and then conduct a search to find out if it's already been done (including piecemeal portions that can be smashed together), if you find a disclosure that published before the application was filed, you write up a rejection, but if you don't find anything, you write up an allowance. Note that findings of allowability are highly dependent upon both your supervisor and your assigned technology. Then, as soon as you finish one application get ready to pick up another, because we have hundreds of thousands of new applications waiting for this review. I'm twenty-two years into my career at the USPTO and the never-ending treadmill of more applications has gotten tiring, but the pay is pretty drat good at GS-14. There have been some changes recently in how applications are assigned to examiners, but starting as a fresh examiner, you won't have the baked-in bias based upon how applications used to be distributed.
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Jun 8, 2022 00:56
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Justus posted:Question for USPTO peeps: I've heard of examiners who are two years into the job and haven't stepped into the office once, but we also have in person academy classes going. Under normal circumstances, telework for new hires is currently half time max (40 hours a biweek), and full time telework eligibility begins after the one year mark. Also, let them know to go look/ask on Reddit (/r/patentexaminer) as there is a fairly active community of US examiners there.
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Feb 1, 2023 05:55
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Justus posted:Thanks for the response. That’s good info. Right now he’s in between the tentative and final offers. Out of curiosity, would full remote from day 1 be something he could try to negotiate for before accepting a final offer? He’s got a pretty nice housing situation already and not having to move and pay DC rents solo would be a huge boon for him. Or would it more appropriately be the kind of thing to try and work out quietly with a first line supervisor after accepting the final? First line supervisors do not really have any power to grant telework. That decision is made by someone in HR and according to specific requirements. My understanding is that HR is currently offering 100% telework from the beginning as an option, but don't quote me on that (or at least indicate that I'm not positive if this is true or not). Regardless, have them talk to the HR rep to find out the options.
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Feb 1, 2023 22:57
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Evil SpongeBob posted:There is a big difference between positions classified as remote vs telework eligible. 100% full telework isn't remote. This means the agency can change it to zero tomorrow. Full remote means there is no expectation that the employee will be required to report to a location. Ah, forgive my ignorance on the correct wording. The USPTO offers completely remote positions. My duty station is my home address. I haven't stepped foot inside the office since 2017.
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Feb 2, 2023 16:02
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Dr. Quarex posted:Second, wow, my first USPTO referral ever! I seriously doubt this matters but it is fun! Details man! I certainly hope it wasn't for an examiner position.
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Feb 16, 2023 18:06
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Literally a position that I have never heard of! But the Trademark business unit and the Patent business unit never seem to interact at all, so I know next to nothing about Trademark side of the agency.
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Feb 17, 2023 00:58
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USPTO lifer here, we're currently done hiring for the current fiscal year, so no new hires between now and Oct. 1st. I actually started in the metallurgy area and found it quite easy. However, if you were to get hired into that area now, you'd likely be looking at mostly 3d printing (of metal) as that's the current hot technology. Your Virginia Tech diploma would fit in pretty well, I know quite a few Hokies who are patent examiners, including myself. I hate to direct you off-site, but the subreddit /r/patentexaminer has a lot of good info (and also a lot of jaded people who aren't cut out for the job).
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Jul 25, 2023 00:37
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Well, my job's special pay rate is now going to be exceeded by the Washington DC locality table. Thankfully, (1) the higher of the two is what I get paid and (2) I still live in a county covered by the DC locality.
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Dec 23, 2023 00:09
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Retrograde posted:You a 2210? Nope. I had to look it up, I'm a 1224.
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Dec 23, 2023 01:31
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Whelp, officially made the journey all the way from step 1 to step 10 today.
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Mar 24, 2024 18:49
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grenada posted:How many QSIs along the way? None. Took the full 18 years.
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Mar 25, 2024 05:42
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