Reply to DD with PhD suddenly interested in becoming a patent attorney

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]She’s an adult let her figure this out. [/quote]

I know. But I'm curious. I'd like to have something to say to her when she brings it up. I've been (subtly) encouraging her to go into academia, but she says she has no interest in academia. She enjoyed being a TA, and she's even an adjunct at a college near where she works.  I'm wondering what it takes to be a patent attorney. She worked really hard to get her PhD and thinks she should make more money. She doesn't want to work for FAANG, for some reason I can't figure out. [/quote]

It sounds like your daughter likes being in school, and she doesn't want to work. So what you say to her is that you will not fund another degree nor pay for her housing/living expenses while she grinds away in school full-time for three more years. That there are plenty of ways to earn more money with a CS degree, but she'd have to go out and actually interview for those jobs, and some of them may involve work or employers that aren't ideal. (with a focus on CS, who exactly does she think would be spending big money on patents? FAANG.)

Academia is a shit show, and then ALSO much like law she'd be working continually to develop funding-- continually submitting to NSF grants and publishing in order to get more grants. Yeah, my long-time CS prof clears $200,000 and has tenure. So he gets to harass cute CS students (presumably she won't find that to be the perk that unmarried men do) and won't get fired because he brings in a few million in grants.

There are a ton of government jobs that will take a PhD in CS as a substitute for some years of experience. I suggest she start there, if she has a moral objection to Google for some reason.[/quote]

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