SEQUENCE 1

Brandon: 
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I’m Brandon, and I’m going to show you what it’s like to be a 
Patent Examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office.

My job, I guess to describe it, it would simply be, it’s a lot of
research that takes place. You have to remember, we are the Patent
Office. So, the majority of what we look at – hopefully everything
we look at – is a new invention. And it takes some research to
understand what the inventors were trying to get at. So we start
off by reading the application, looking at drawings, looking at 
specifications, trying to read and get a grasp of exactly what it 
is they were trying to invent. 

From there we may go and actually do a Google search, and say,
what is this term? What is this idea? So, I think the biggest 
thing to describe this job would be the examining – the research
that takes place – to try and find or discover something that may
be similar or very closely related to what the inventors are 
trying to get a patent on. We’re the ones that actually read the 
applications, and do the searches and explain to the applicants 
why or why not they’re going to get a patent. We’re the ones that
make everything work. From there on up, you have supervisors and 
directors for review, hiring coordinators and overseas issues and
policies. That can all come – you can work your way up through the
system, but as far as new hires, you come in as a Patent Examiner.

I went to Clarion University in Pennsylvania. I had a computer 
science degree. I’ve been working here at the Patent Office for 
just over five years. I plan on being here for as long as they
keep me, I guess! But, hopefully another 35 years kick in and I’m
doing the same thing I do now – it’s a good job. 

Christian: 
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Hi, my name is Christian, and I’m going to show you what a day in
the life of an Examiner is like. 

I went to school at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and I
studied Computer Engineering. I came right from school to the
United States Patent and Trademark Office. When I was applying for
jobs, I looked at private industry and I also looked at several
other government agencies, and the Patent and Trademark Office
seemed like the best fit for me. 

I like what the job had to offer. It seemed challenging and 
interesting. Every day you learn about new technology, and I’m one
of those people that like to learn about new things, so it’s 
really a good fit for me. 

The Patent Office is not the type of job for hands-on engineers.
We do a lot of reviewing the applications. We review other 
people’s inventions. We need engineers because they’re claiming 
technological stuff that a layperson wouldn’t understand. So we 
need people with mechanical engineering backgrounds or electrical
engineering backgrounds that understand those devices.