What do you do that you earn six figures?

[u/fidgit86]

It seems like a lot of people make a lot of money and it seems like I’m missing out on something. So those of you that do, whats your occupation that pays so well?

[u/pharos147]

Patent Examiner

[u/pharos147 → u/[deleted]]

I examine computer security/network stuff. Majority of the patent applications are from technology companies or startups. I do get patent applications that are just so obvious, but it's not as common as in other subject matter areas.

[u/HK-53 → u/pharos147]

*squints*

"yep. That there is a patent alright"

[u/Bluepuck03 → u/pharos147]

How do you like it? And what all is involved? I'm looking into a career change and that and a technical writer keep coming up.

[u/Hlca → u/Bluepuck03]

He too busy trying to rack up points by cutting and pasting office actions.

[u/Theorlain → u/Bluepuck03]

Not the person you asked, but I don’t think patent examiners do a ton of technical writing. I get to read those cut and pasted Office actions, and they are a hot mess.

It seems like a rough job—got quotas to fill, have to get through things very quickly but also be thorough. But I’m not a patent examiner, so I don’t actually know. I just know someone who was one and have some additional exposure as someone who writes and prosecutes patents.

I’m nearing 100k. I might make it this year. I would if I went to another firm, but then I might lose some work-life balance.

[u/pharos147 → u/Theorlain]

It is rough. My academy group started out over 10 years ago. More than 90% of them are gone and it's just me and two others. We had 6 new examiners in the past year and all of them left because they couldn't meet production or didn't like the work. There are quotas to meet every bi-week.

I'm a GS-14 and make 145k a year. The work-life probably beats most companies. I have flex hours, where my schedule is 8 hours between whenever I feel like waking up and whenever I feel like leaving. I have been working from home for the past 7 years. Because of my GS level, I'm very independent and rarely talk to my supervisor unless he needs something. I will have a federal pension and a very good 401k offered by the government. I live in a completely different state than DC and have not been in the office since 2017 for a mandatory meetup, which happens every 5-6 years.

While my pay is no way near what I would have earned in the private industry with my education background/experience, but the benefits probably outweigh a higher end salary.

I would honestly have left years ago because I don't like the work (it doesn't feel fulfilling). But, it's hard to revert back to a work in the office from 9-5pm job and commuting. I hate commuting more than anything in the world.

[u/Theorlain → u/pharos147]

What art unit are you in if you don’t mind me asking?

The benefits do sound lovely. I think I would find it pretty mind-numbing—I’m not too keen on patent searching. But I do like the logic and argument aspects.

Do they care about your stats besides quotas? I’m always curious because of the huge difference in “easy” Examiners versus “extremely hard” Examiners in actions to allowance, time to allowance, percentage allowed, etc.

[u/pharos147 → u/Bluepuck03]

It's a lot of searching (Google, a custom database, IEEE database, etc.), IP law knowledge, and legal writing. You're basically the other side of patent prosecution. The inventors/lawyers want an invention as broad as possible, and your job is to get them to narrow the invention down as much as possible by searching for references and persuasively writing that teach their invention.

There's a very high turn over rate. Not alot of people can handle the quota or the nature of the work.

[u/Starfydusty → u/pharos147]

Mom is a paralegal, used to work for patent lawyers. She always said that patent law was where it was at.

[u/H_Sayd → u/pharos147]

For a moment I read that as patient examiner and was like "Wait, isn't that just a doc?"

[u/mystictofuoctopi → u/pharos147]

This is such a cool seeming job.