Layoff now in 8th month. Time to reconsider career?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Not to discourage you, but… To become a patent lawyer, in addition to a law degree that takes $100K and 3 years to get, one needs to have very specific technical qualifications (either an undergraduate degree in a hard sciences field, a certain number of undergrad credits in said sciences, etc.) to be admitted to take the parent bar exam. I knew several folks with molecular biology degrees who tried to go that route only to find out that they were not qualified to take the USPTO exam and needed to take more physics and chemistry courses. BTW, a graduate degree in said fields and graduate coursework does not count towards those requirements. As far as technical advising goes, law firms prefer people fresh out of PhD programs.</p>

<p>It sounds that he can do well in medical writing.</p>

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<p>I never thought of myself as having a “sales personality” (and still don’t) but I’ve done pretty well in sales because I think of it as helping people.</p>

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<p>Has he thought about FDA? Either scientific review or project management?
Lots of people come from bench science jobs in industry to FDA.</p>

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<p>This isn’t quick but it’s what my brother had to do. He was a lab tech/chemist. He went back and got his MBA and it opened up a number of jobs.</p>

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<p>“* Working for a patent firm as a patent examiner”</p>

<p>This is a good idea. </p>

<p>The Patent Office has a serous backlog so I believe they are hiring.
[USPTO</a> Positions](<a href=“Join us | USPTO”>Join us | USPTO)</p>

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<p>Federal jobs (FDA, NIH, etc.) are particularly challenging, as all of the applications are screened by HR. If the applicant is fortunate enough to not merely be deemed qualified for the position, but to also be referred to the hiring manager, then contacts are useful. So far he’s received many emails indicating that he hasn’t been deemed qualified, and one indicating that he’s qualified, but wasn’t referred to the hiring manager. :frowning: Then the government shut down for almost three weeks. :frowning: :frowning: After 15 years in this area, he does know people inside both the FDA and the NIH so should his CV ever get past HR, perhaps things will go more smoothly.</p>

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<p>""* Working for a patent firm as a patent examiner"</p>

<p>This is a good idea. </p>

<p>The Patent Office has a serous backlog so I believe they are hiring.
USPTO Positions"</p>

<p>Let me clear up some misinformation in the arbargy’s post. Patent law firms do not offer “patent examiner” positions. Only USPTO does. Law firms do hire former examiners as agents. There is a difference between an agent, a patent attorney and a patent examiner. An examiner is a USPTO employee who examines incoming patent applications according to the applicable rules and laws. An agent is a person with a technical background who passed the so called patent bar exam and is therefore allowed to file new patent applications and perform other patent prosecution tasks on behalf of clients. A patent attorney has a law degree, and in addition to a patent bar exam also passed a state bar exam. Attorneys can handle both patent prosecution and litigation.</p>

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<p>On the patent jobs, DD was called for patent classifier jobs for a contractor in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She took another position, but they were looking for recent grads. Pay was not anything to live on. FWIW.</p>

<p>Your hubby has probably done this, but when I was helping with DD’s search, I would search different job titles on the sites like Simply Hired or Glass Ceiling to get ideas about jobs. I also flipped to numerous companies to see what they were hiring and searched those. </p>

<p>RAND Corporation has an office in D.C. And it seems to always be hiring. Also, there are thousands of associations in D.C. And they seem to hire all kinds of people. Check all of the university sites, again …all types of jobs.</p>

<p>My husband, at 61, was involuntarily placed on half time/ half pay. He was not quite ready to retire, but it looks as though that is going to be our near future. All kinds of crazy thongs are happening. </p>

<p>Hope something comes up soon, happymomof1.</p>

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<p>In my neck of the woods, most bio job ads are either positions in project management (a year long online course to get certification) or CRA [How</a> to Become a CRA](<a href=“http://www.clinical-cra.com/cra/]How”>How to Become a CRA - craresources) A couple of other areas he can consider are QC and QA jobs.</p>

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<p>More food for thought - regulatory affairs:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.raps.org/rac.aspx[/url]”>http://www.raps.org/rac.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I have a girlfriend who is back in school on a five week accelerated course learning to be a CNA (certified nursing asst)…they make about $18-20 an hour here. The training program has been much more difficult than she imagined (we were all thinking travel agent school ish, if you know what I mean) and she plans on going for LPN soon after with hopes of getting on with the VA (with federal perks). Students in class range from 18-50ish. It appears that the best students in class often get picked up by the RN’s or places were they do their clinicals…</p>

<p>I know my friend researched the programs that taught and looked specficially for ones with high credentialing passage rates.</p>

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<p>I sympathize with your predicament. I went through an 18-mo unemployment at one point, and it is tough. For the very near term, just to get some cashflow, he can do what I did: cruise Craigslist for “gigs” ads and take any job I could get.</p>

<p>That’s just a stop-gap for the hours he’s not spending on a longer-term solution.</p>

<p>Since he is a writer, I encourage him to start a blog on science & biotech ASAP. Get him a domain under his own full name, and if he posts frequently and participates actively with comments on other blogs he can establish a reputation for authority in the field. That can be a significant benefit to him in securing many of the consulting/advisory jobs suggested above.</p>

<p>Since he’s an Amazon short story author, I will also note that short supernatural romance and erotic fiction can sell very well on Amazon, enough to provide a decent full-time income. That may not be to his taste, but it’s something he is apparently quite qualified to do. Hey, maybe he can invent a new biotech sci-fi romance subgenre.</p>

<p>Since you have retirement funds, one option is investing the retirement monies in starting a business. You need a professional’s assistance to do this without triggering tax penalties, and it comes with the obvious risk of depleting your nest egg. It’s not a decision I would make lightly, but if he’s ever had the entrepreneurial bug perhaps now is the time.</p>

<p>Programming is an industry that is easy to retrain for, especially with the advent of 90-day intensive boot camps that partner with companies that are recruiting their students on graduation. A representative sample: AppAcademy.io, HackReactor, DevBootcamp, generalassemb.ly. There are many more. Typical cost is $12-16k. Just bear in mind this caveat: programming is a field of ongoing learning; these boot camps don’t prepare students to program well, they prepare them to <em>learn on the job</em> how to program well.</p>

<p>Another option for raising capital to start a business or retrain is Upstart.com. It’s like Kickstarter-style venture capital for people. Investors back an “upstart” person, and in return that person pays back the investment with a certain percentage of their income in every year their income exceeds a certain threshold for a certain period of time. There’s also a cap on the amount you pay back, so you’re not penalized for becoming wildly successful. It’s a very intriguing idea which I would be trying out myself if I were eligible in my state.</p>

<p>I hope some of this is helpful, or at least inspiring.</p>

<p>Best of luck to both of you!!</p>

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<p>This may not be suitable and depends on what he was actually doing - tech support or customer service.</p>

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<p>Start a business doing scientific testing–water testing of wells, soil tests, asbestos, lead paint, radon, that kind of thing. Provide quick and accurate results. Create a website and accept samples by mail, charging a reasonable price to send a testing kit with instructions.
(If you send mailers to real estate offices, this is the kind of thing that can be part of buying a house.)</p>

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<p>“Programming is an industry that is easy to retrain for, especially with the advent of 90-day intensive boot camps that partner with companies that are recruiting their students on graduation” - Interesting. Do the students typically already have a college degree?</p>

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<p>I’m sorry Happpymom. I wish I could help or at least hug. Cyber hugs to you. I’ve heard that there are some jobs at companies like Salesforce.com (?) where if you train and can get certified, there are jobs aplenty. That is just one company that comes to mind in that field. I’ve known some folks going back into the job market who have gone that route. They all have intensive training sessions for certification and then a test one has to pass. You might want to give that a go. Also there is an Applied Physics lab in your area, I think that often looks for temporary employees, and sometimes that can lead to full time work. </p>

<p>Some others I have known have gone back to school, often comm college to gain certification as Dialysis, Radiation, MRI, or other equipment technicians Maybe sales reps for bio tech, med supplies.</p>

<p>Best wishes.</p>

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<p>I have been through this 3 times in last 7 years!</p>

<p>As a mid-50s person I was scared of starting over and faced with knowing that it is harder to get hired as we get older.</p>

<p>I started applying with government and eventually landed a job. Found that government more embracing of experienced workers. Really happy now and doing something that makes a difference, and being valued for my experience.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Not necessarily.</p>

<p>However, these “boot camps” are intense, and probably cover about half the CS material in a CS bachelor’s degree in a highly compressed and accelerated pace, so they are not for the faint of heart. One really has to be the type who will enjoy writing computer software and be efficient at it* in order to become good enough at it (whether learning through a typical CS bachelor’s degree program, a “boot camp”, or self-education) to make a reasonably reliable good living out of it. Also, continuing self-education is a must.</p>

<p>*Productivity is usually said to vary by an order of magnitude between different software developers. Those at the high end tend to have longer and more reliable careers; those at the low end might only be employable for a few years until the expected experience-based pay level prices them out of the market.</p>

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<p>I’ve known a few people who have gone back to get training in the health field- rn, respiratory tech, X-ray tech, even if their previous or current career had nothing to do with health care. ( the English professor just received his nursing degree from a community college)
I also just took a one day workshop on animal massage for my own (& my pups) benefit, but out of 30 people, almost half of them were looking to switch careers into something more high touch & about 1/2 of* those *people were in programming/tech.
(Everyone was currently still employed but perhaps were being proactive).
I think DMD has good ideas.</p>

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<p>I haven’t read the entire thread, but I’ll share my sotry:</p>

<p>Started my career as an editor. Realized I’d never make much money. Got an MBA and went to work in benefits for a bank. Worked as a benefits director or in benefits consulting for 30 years.</p>

<p>Now, I’m writing/editing benefits communications for a consulting firm’s clients. It’s a slightly sideways step from what I was doing, but lots of fun.</p>

<p>My point is, There may be some ancillary career related to what your DH used to do that could be interesting and lucrative for him.</p>