US Patent and Trademark Office Reviews in Washington, DC Area

Pros

I am currently working from home, spending more time with my wife, two kids (soon to be three), and 0 miles of commute. It took me about 4 years to get to this point (could be faster). In terms of work, you get to research some interesting subject matter. This is a great long term position or a next step to become a patent attorney. I have a great supervisor who I am able to work with and provides valuable insight.

Cons

I came in with a group of other new hires, of those who were in my class, about half already left, the rest, half are working from home and only a handful remain in the office. It is a very solitary job that requires a lot of reading and analytical thinking. If you don't like solitary confinement, then this job probably isn't for you.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide examiners with more flexibility in terms of growth. Perhaps allocate money for further education, ie. masters/law school. Provide examiners with more training when necessary.

Pros

The work is pretty easy so if you know how to do it, it is a pretty easy job with regular salary increases as long as you meet production.

Cons

The work is bland, as you pretty much are doing more or less the same thing every day, so that can get boring.

Pros

Compensation
Benefits
Technology support
Flexibility
New office facilities
Excellent exercise facilities

Cons

No social interaction
Mundane work
No continuing education
No tuition reimbursement

Advice to Senior Management

Need to provide more time for patent review, reduce quota system

Pros

benefit of govt employment is good. however, they haven't come through with helping my continuing education and the work is only ok...

Cons

most people work at home. that's great for them...but some like to come into the office to others...just isn't the place for that

Advice to Senior Management

they need to plan better. things need to have a true benefit...don't just put something on the schedule...funding it with millions of dollars...when it really results in minor, if any, improvement.

Pros

Decent pay, flexible hours, work from home

Cons

Managers have very little experience, almost no one with real-world engineering experience, management doesn't trust employees

Advice to Senior Management

Respect junior examiners' decisions when they want to allow a patent application. Don't keep forcing us to come up with more and more references as the applicants add more claim limitations. Appoint managers from outside the patent office (e.g., patent attorneys) to get more balance into the system.

Pros

very stable job, with great upward mobility and benefits.

Cons

You SPE is your Lord. If he/she is an a-hole you will fail. No if and buts.

Advice to Senior Management

give examiners the options to choose between different a.u. or fields.

Pros

Great benefit, very flexible working schedule, high salary

Cons

This is not your typical easy to do government job. It all comes down to production, forget about what your Supervisor say about quality and customer satisfication. I heard many stories from other examiners that the only time people get fired is because people couldn't meet the production. Of course, production varies depending on which art you are examining, some are easy, some are hard, so opinion can vary depending on 2 things: Type of art you are examining and your supervisor.

If you are planning to become patent attorney, it is good to work at PTO for a year or 2, as many legal office love people with PTO experience. However, if you plan to go back to the engineering industry, it is better to leave sooner than later, since the skill you learned from the PTO will most likely not appreciated by the engineering industry.

Advice to Senior Management

Compare to other patent office around the world, we are working way too hard. It would be great if we move to the european system. Also, abandoned case that gets revived should have a different count system.

Pros

The pay is good and your schedule is very flexible. You just come in, do your work, and get the heck out.

Cons

The job is very boring and extremely tedious. It really depends on your manager and what art your stuck reviewing. Very difficult to transfer to another art. No professional development. Skills developed at the USPTO are not directly transferable to any other job. A trained monkey could perform this job.

Pros

The pay is great, and there are a lot of intrinsic benefits, such as an extremely flexible schedule, a gym in one of the buildings, a laptop and work-at-home program, and great health benefits and a decent retirement program.

Cons

The production requirement is challenging, as is the workflow requirement. However, I think the biggest downside is the fact that, while the PTO takes the time to train its employees about how to search and how to apply some legal standards, they never take the time to teach their employees logical reasoning or rhetoric. Arguing is 80% of an examiner's job and the most neglected portion of the PTO's training. Without the skills to argue and persuade effectively, it takes considerably longer to articulate your position in Office Actions because you are searching so hard for a way to say what you are trying to say.

Advice to Senior Management

Teach your examiner's how to argue and persuade effectively.

Pros

Competitive pay per production. Ability to work from home in the future

Cons

The career path does not help you in developing countries with low technological advances

Advice to Senior Management

NA