Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're an examiner, you are on a quota and its been referred to as a "legal sweatshop". You probably won't work in a technology you are familiar with.

If you can handle the work, you can work 100% at home, on a special pay scale. You can get bonuses up to 14% of pay which is unusual for federal employment. You set your own hours, can work overtime and comp time.

The job is extremely flexible. Promotions are not competitive to GS-14, and rapid promotion from grades 5-11 (2x a year).

Agree. My neighbor works there as an examiner and said it’s such a sweatshop someone died in the office, and everyone just kept working while the ambulance came. She also doesn’t get federal holidays. She’s trying to get out.

What? None of this story your neighbor is telling you makes sense. of course we get all federal holidays off, along with fairly generous early dismissals, great sick leave and really flexible part time options for family care. And most of us telework full time from home, anywhere in the country in fact, in flexible hours. but we have private offices if you stay on campus anyway, so most people wouldn't necessarily know if someone had an emergency, but you could just flex your hours if you were upset by that. Its nowhere near like a factory. It's a job with tremendous flexibility and good benefits. You do have to work your full hours to meet your quota, but nothing like the overtime put in in most of the private sector. Examining can be tedious and people often go out on details every Few years to get a break from it, but the independence and flexibility of examining is compelling. Few leave the agency. Most of those that do just aren't cut out for the work. Would be tough Especially for someone who is an extreme extrovert or needs lots of people interaction and/or external motivation as It's pretty solitary, self directed work. -patent examiner for five years.

There's usually at least one death a year at the PTO. The office tries to keep quiet about it. Apparently INOVA refers to the PTO as "The heart attack office". Typically its an examiner who died working over the weekend.

I've been hoteling over a decade, but back when I was on campus, you used to see ambulances at least once a week stopping by the Jefferson health center.

The legal sweatshop thing is a very longstanding complaint. I'm not sure if you've been around long enough to remember the old POPA newsletters that we used to get in paper, but that was a charge POPA used to level quite a bit. You'll also see the same if you read up on IP watchdog, or patently-o.

It's not uncommon to see people working on holidays to catch up, though long ago, many primaries worked holidays to take advantage of holiday pay rather than GS 10/1 pay that we used to get for overtime which was a bad deal, unless you were a more junior examiner.

Few people leaving the agency has been largely true since hoteling was implemented, though the turnover rate used to be around 20% before it was implemented. The reasons the PTO pays as much as it does, and has all the flexibly it does is because they couldn't historically keep people around.

The new docket management bonuses are way easier than the old workflow system, and far more lucrative.

The only advice I have for potential examiners is make sure you get hired into an area with a backlog (business methods, networking, and oil bumps have large backlogs right now). The PTO has over-hired in recent years and some docket areas are drying up for reasons known in the IP community. Don't be surprised if there are RIFs in the future in some TCs, particularly the electrical TCs. The way they allocate examiners doesn't always seem to match up with the actual backlogs or projections.

One of the few fed agencies where you can make more than 180k at the GS14/15 level. Have to work hard for it though but not the crazy hours you would work at a law firm. Good work environment, high pay, not much micromanaging, flexibility and lots of smart coworkers.

Primary Examiner since 2008. All my co-workers who started with me are still here. A couple left for firms and returned in 3-4 years. Fed retirement and tsp is a good boost.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're an examiner, you are on a quota and its been referred to as a "legal sweatshop". You probably won't work in a technology you are familiar with.

If you can handle the work, you can work 100% at home, on a special pay scale. You can get bonuses up to 14% of pay which is unusual for federal employment. You set your own hours, can work overtime and comp time.

The job is extremely flexible. Promotions are not competitive to GS-14, and rapid promotion from grades 5-11 (2x a year).

Agree. My neighbor works there as an examiner and said it’s such a sweatshop someone died in the office, and everyone just kept working while the ambulance came. She also doesn’t get federal holidays. She’s trying to get out.

Your neighbor must be really bad at her job. She definitely gets federal holidays—if she ends up working them it’s because she’s inefficient.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're an examiner, you are on a quota and its been referred to as a "legal sweatshop". You probably won't work in a technology you are familiar with.

If you can handle the work, you can work 100% at home, on a special pay scale. You can get bonuses up to 14% of pay which is unusual for federal employment. You set your own hours, can work overtime and comp time.

The job is extremely flexible. Promotions are not competitive to GS-14, and rapid promotion from grades 5-11 (2x a year).

Agree. My neighbor works there as an examiner and said it’s such a sweatshop someone died in the office, and everyone just kept working while the ambulance came. She also doesn’t get federal holidays. She’s trying to get out.

What? None of this story your neighbor is telling you makes sense. of course we get all federal holidays off, along with fairly generous early dismissals, great sick leave and really flexible part time options for family care. And most of us telework full time from home, anywhere in the country in fact, in flexible hours. but we have private offices if you stay on campus anyway, so most people wouldn't necessarily know if someone had an emergency, but you could just flex your hours if you were upset by that. Its nowhere near like a factory. It's a job with tremendous flexibility and good benefits. You do have to work your full hours to meet your quota, but nothing like the overtime put in in most of the private sector. Examining can be tedious and people often go out on details every Few years to get a break from it, but the independence and flexibility of examining is compelling. Few leave the agency. Most of those that do just aren't cut out for the work. Would be tough Especially for someone who is an extreme extrovert or needs lots of people interaction and/or external motivation as It's pretty solitary, self directed work. -patent examiner for five years.

Depends on where. There's a group within the business that interfaces with IT. Run by a bunch of women. DO NOT WORK THERE if you want happiness.

You have to be good to reap the benefits. If you are good/get good, it’s the best job in the federal government.

Anonymous wrote:If you're an examiner, you are on a quota and its been referred to as a "legal sweatshop". You probably won't work in a technology you are familiar with.

If you can handle the work, you can work 100% at home, on a special pay scale. You can get bonuses up to 14% of pay which is unusual for federal employment. You set your own hours, can work overtime and comp time.

The job is extremely flexible. Promotions are not competitive to GS-14, and rapid promotion from grades 5-11 (2x a year).

Agree. My neighbor works there as an examiner and said it’s such a sweatshop someone died in the office, and everyone just kept working while the ambulance came. She also doesn’t get federal holidays. She’s trying to get out.

If you're an examiner, you are on a quota and its been referred to as a "legal sweatshop". You probably won't work in a technology you are familiar with.

If you can handle the work, you can work 100% at home, on a special pay scale. You can get bonuses up to 14% of pay which is unusual for federal employment. You set your own hours, can work overtime and comp time.

The job is extremely flexible. Promotions are not competitive to GS-14, and rapid promotion from grades 5-11 (2x a year).

If you're an examiner, you are on a quota and its been referred to as a "legal sweatshop". You probably won't work in a technology you are familiar with.

If you can handle the work, you can work 100% at home, on a special pay scale. You can get bonuses up to 14% of pay which is unusual for federal employment. You set your own hours, can work overtime and comp time.

The job is extremely flexible. Promotions are not competitive to GS-14, and rapid promotion from grades 5-11 (2x a year).

Anonymous wrote:The trademark attorneys love it there.

Really? Good to hear. Thinking of applying to that.

The trademark attorneys love it there.

It was ranked #1 in Federal Agency Satisfaction a few years ago. Not quite as high now, but still high.

All (four) people that I know who there seem to be happy and content. But it looks like the exit opportunities seems a bit limited for them, if you also see this agency as a stepping stone to other places. For patent examiners, it also looks like they run into some time pressure to meet quota during fiscal year end. But stress and pressure is relative.

Depends what you're looking for out of it and what position you'll have. Will you be an examiner? The benefits really come after making it to primary examiner and having more independence.

USPTO is consistently ranked as one of the happiest places to work. Do my DCUMD's agree? Looking to transition to another opportunity in near future, I suppose I just want confirmation that it is as great as people say it is??