What I've been up to

I have a bad habit of starting blogs and then abandoning them, and I'm determined not to let that happen. I've been a little less focused on the variety of career options available to scientists recently because I think I've finally picked on that I'm going to stick to. To recap my situation, I've been considering going into patent law. In late April, I passed the USPTO exam, which allows you to file patent applications in this country. In taking the patent bar, I was hoping to increase my chances of getting a technology specialist position at an IP law firm. These firms will often hire people with PhDs and then send them to law school part time. Although passing the patent bar was a big achievement, it soon started to feel like all that hard work was for nothing because no one is hiring technology specialists and the few places that are want people with a background in organic chemistry or electrical engineering rather than genetics. So things were looking pretty dreary. I was trying to keep other career options open, but having one foot in medical writing and one in patent law and one in consulting and one in whatever else I happened to think of that day was driving me crazy. I was talking to a very wise young patent attorney about how too many options can be a bad thing, and I realized that was precisely my problem. I was trying to keep all my options open to maximize my chance of finding a job, but the best way to find a job is to be really committed to getting the one thing that you really want, not being sort of committed to getting any of 5 things that you sort of want. I realized that what I really want is to be a patent lawyer and that is my only focus right now. I realize that the chances of me finding a technology specialist position sometime soon are small and I am not dissuaded. If I can't find a job now, then I will go to law school, and get a job when I'm done. Yes, maybe I'll end up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, but sometimes you have to take the big risk to get the big payout.