(no subject)

[vicarz]

UNITED STATES PATENT and TRADEMARK OFFICE
You are qualified for the vacancy, however, you were not selected

Everything I know about country: (commas used inappropriately)

My baby is american made, born and bred in the USA...

She's not really cheating - she's just getting even

My baby likes a cheatin' song...and I don't know if it's the cheatin' she likes, or just the melody.

You gotta know when the hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and know when to run. You never count your money, while you're sittin' at the table - they'll be time enough for counting, when the game is done.
...and somewhere in the darkness, the gambler he broken even...

The devil plays better than Johnny, but somehow is declared the contest winner for reasons that escape me.

Promise me son, not to do the things I done. Walk away from trouble, if you can. It doesn't mean that you're weak if you turn the other cheek...everyone considered him, the coward of the county. There's someone for everyone, and Tommy's love was Becky. He didn't have to win a fight to prove to her he was a man. One day when Johnny was away, the (Becklin?) boys came calling. They took turns at Becky - and there was three of them.
...when he turned they said, "Hey look, old yeller's leavin'!" You could have heard a pin drop when he stopped, and locked the door.

Just call me angel - of the morning bay-bee

Anything, anything, anything but Sue...

Comments

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

Okay, okay, speak to me as if I were a child: how do the song lyrics relate to the USPTO?

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

I'm not being snarky; I'm actually curious.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

No snark taken - but I wouldn't have minded one bit! It's a trick question... there really is no relation. It was a twitterish post, to be honest. I got the PTO rejection letter today (or was it yesterday - I'm work-smooshed) and I had tons of country on my mind. I mixed the two issues for no reason whatsoever other than they weren't good enough for separate posts and I was too lazy to do long stories of explanation for both.

I suppose I could link the issues post-hoc;
As the frightening economy has many people searching for employment or alternative employment my rejection letter from the PTO shows my kinship with the blue-collar USian laborer who often is characterized as a fan of country, fans who in turn romanticize those blue-collar workers who made USia an industrial powerhouse. Also, country music, when played backwards, is often comprised of a set of lyrics in which a man finds a dog and/or truck, stops drinking too much, acquires a wife/lover, and gets a job.
I always loved that joke

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

Oh ah.

My inability to get work in the very small number of small-molecule crystallography labs in the nation, it's led me to reconsider applying for a job as a patent examiner in the pharma/chemical division. Of course, there's hardly a guarantee that they'd be eager to take me on, either.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

GMU Law fed a lot of IPO folks to PTO - I think they hire specialist lawyers, but I hear it's a great gig if you can get it. They will spin backflips for someone with a technical and legal background suitable for their work - a friend (in that classmate kind of way friend) once talked about how bored he was as there was a huge debate over whether a coating on a resin/plastic was a film or a wafer...something like that.

The money is lower six figures last I checked, but only 40 hours a week and I've heard from many the numeric quotas required are not difficult to meet - but that's from lawyer types, mostly mechanical engineers I think? IT legal folks are hot there too.

It is 100% worth scanning http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/ to find out what the qualifications are for patent attorneys - might also try PTO's site. They might be like many agencies right now though - waiting for final budget or Obamma action before being allowed to fill positions.

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

Well, the only listing there currently is for electrical engineering. I dunno, looking here (http://www.usptocareers.gov/Pages/PEPositions/Jobs.aspx) makes me think I've picked a bad time in some kind of cycle to be finishing up grad school.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Depends what you're used to - I took a GS-7 to get in government - no regrets. Most of those jobs are "career ladder" which mean nearly automatic promotions up 2 grades every year until the full journeyman level is reached.

Hmm...I see a GS-11 starts at only 56k to a max of 73 regular, but their special scale is 68-89. Notice if you follow their link to their special scale that those jobs all are for patent examiners - it appears there may be work for patent examiners up to their special scale GS-15 at 130k-153k.

If you're used to being poor or able to take it, it's -in my opinion- worth waiting it out to move up in gummint. Lots of leave, lots of security, lots of ability to move around while still showing "job stability."

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

Hey, right now I make less than half of $56k -- grad school, even in the physical sciences, is not awesome like that. I'd totally be willing to work at GS-11, or GS-9, provided they were interested in hiring me. However I don't see that there's any openings in what would be my section, ie chemistry/pharma (I am technically a bioinorganic chemist).

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Seems like it - but you can go to USAJobs and have them email you a list of vacancies daily, weekly, or whatever that fit whatever search terms you give it. Make your own job spam!

I know my agency has a hiring freeze as long as we're on the continuing resolution, but will flood ourselves as much as we can whenever we get real money.

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

I really appreciate your advice about this, btw -- it's not so much that you're saying anything I didn't more or less suspect, but after four years of college and eight in the PhD program, I'm a babe in the woods in terms of "employment."

I know there's been scads of money budgeted for all kinds of things as part of the stimulus and spending and suchlike; I don't suppose you have any idea when when your agency, and by extension other agencies, would get this "real money?"

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Nope...we expected it ... well last I heard it was weeks ago, but the congressional debates have not cleared our budget even though it was due in October 2008. Honestly I haven't paid attention as our agency is too important not to fund - no us, no meat to eat. I hate to say it but scanning the news would be a better way to find out.

However, even when they start - the application process is long and arduous. Those KSAs make applying a royal pain the first ten or so times. To reasonably expect to get a job, you may be talking about at least an application a week for months (I mean you could score one in a week, but it's unlikely)

[jeffwik.livejournal.com]

I would say something like "surely funding happens at about the same time every fiscal year," except that would doubtless mark me as an utter rube.


Yeah, I just disregarded anything that closes before June. That may be overly cautious, but maybe not, I dunno how easy it is to get copies of my college transcript (which appears required for pretty well anything).

Though the USPTO doesn't seem interested in my skillset, that might not be the case for exciting acronyms like HHS, NIST, and DEA.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Any job listed as open for more than 2 weeks is probably legit to apply for - most take an unofficial transcript for the application process, with only an official for the actual hire.

[djpsyche.livejournal.com]

Clearly you spent far too much time in Florida.