Time flies when you’re doing work
Posted 7 July 2009 at 7:18 pm
Today marked my one-year mark at the USPTO. It seems like only yesterday that I had no idea what I’m doing. Oh, wait… 
Out of 17 people in our lab (a subdivision of the 130 or so people in our incoming class at the Patent Training Academy), three have left so far. I dunno, I don’t consider that to be a very good rate, especially considering that several more would probably have already left if the economy didn’t totally suck right now. My supervisor seems to think it’s pretty good, though.
First thing I did when I got to work this morning was register for the laptop program. They let you take home a gubment-owned laptop through which you can continue examining patents from home. Since they cut all paid overtime, this somewhat limits what I can use it for, but it still gives me the peace of mind of knowing that if I’m getting behind on production, I can work on stuff during the weekend at my own pace without having to head all the way to Alexandria.
Of course, given their other financial woes, it’s not clear whether they have any laptops to hand out. I don’t think anybody considers layoffs to be a realistic possibility, but the more pessimistic folks there think that furloughs (i.e., “take 8 hours of leave without pay on Monday”) could be in the works if things don’t turn around soon.
Later on, after I’ve been there two years and am at the appropriate pay grade, I can apply for the telework program, which is sort of a “hoteling lite” where you can work from home one day per week (as in normal hours, rather than just overtime). You use the laptop for that, too. I’m particularly looking forward to being able to do that, but it’s another year off.
Eventually, if you so choose, you can join the hoteling program which lets you work from home all the time, with the caveat that you have to head to Alexandria twice per biweek (you only have to stay like an hour or something, though). There are additional requirements for this, so it probably wouldn’t be until the 3 or 4 year mark that I could do that. They give you a full kit of equipment for that, essentially like having an office in your home.