My 27,000 Turkish liras' worth (that sounds so much better than "two cents"):
All of the above is true. Patent law pays well, and EEs are always in
demand. Some people with technical degrees go to law school at night
and get day jobs clerking with local IP law firms, and their firms
sometimes even pay their way through law school. If this appeals to
you, one possible plan would be to 1) apply to local law schools, 2)
follow the approach described in "What Color Is Your Parachute" to set
up informational interviews with local patent lawyers who might be
willing to discuss your future plans with you, and 3) once you've been
accepted by a law school, contact the patent lawyers you've already
spoken to, and ask them if they'd be interested in hiring you as a
clerk.
I mention "local law schools" because if you're a patent lawyer, I
don't think it matters much where you go to law school. If you surf
local law firms' websites and look at the partner bios, you can see
for yourself where they went to law school, and my bet is that most of
them went to local schools. (See
http://www.patents.com/opportun.htm#law-school for the opposing
viewpoint of one smart person who thinks you should go to the best
school you can get into.) So if I were you (assuming you like where
you live), I would lower my transaction costs and maximize the
opportunity to use my current contacts and social network by going to
a local school. That might be the best approach for most people,
although not for others who want to work at the more
credential-conscious firms. Most firms, I believe, will think you're
just fine with a BSEE and a JD from accredited schools, and won't
require that your degrees be from Caltech and Stanford.
Patent law is probably the safest bet among your choices of grad
schools. After law school, you'll start at three or four times what
the average American makes, and probably make partner in about four
years. BTW, if you want to make enormous amounts of money instead of
merely obscene amounts, think about becoming a litigator.
But if you're more of a risk taker, an MBA might be the way to go.
There are many opportunities open in business - marketing, sales,
design - and from what I've read (primarily Tom Peters' books and
articles on his website), management consulting firms love EE/MBAs. I
think the starting salary at McKinsey is currently around $120,000:
there were news articles several months ago stating that Chelsea
Clinton's starting salary was $120,000 as a new associate there.
Here's a link to one website with general information about JD and MBA careers:
http://www.vault.com/careertopics/careertopiclist.jsp
A discussion of career prospects for EEs, with an analysis of legal
opportunities at the end:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/careers/careerstemplate.jsp?ArticleId=c010202
And this should inspire you to consider adding an MBA and possibly an
MSEE to your BSEE (see the last paragraph):
http://www.forbes.com/2000/11/07/1107faces.html
If you love to design things, I'd consider pinkfreud's suggestion.
There are enormous possibilities for a EE in medicine, with or without
an MD degree, and I'll add this paraphrase from "The Graduate":
"I've got one word for you. Genomics." Take a spin through Juan
Enriquez's "As the Future Catches You," and you might begin to think
of ways you can use your EE training in biotech. Here's a link to one
person who's doing it: http://www.ee.columbia.edu/people/dimitris.php3
. I'd think about ways to get involved with genomics regardless of
which path you take. You could design equipment with your current
background, write the patents for it as a lawyer, or advise biotech
firms as a consultant.
What it all boils down to is this: what do YOU love? What career best
fits YOU? That's an absolutely critical question these days. A very
smart guy, John T. Reed, recently published a book called "Succeeding"
(http://www.johntreed.com/succeeding.html). (Note: I have no ties to
Mr. Reed; I just think it's a valuable book.) In it, he points out
that with the Internet, you can access world-class talent in any field
regardless of where you live. That means world-class people will see
their incomes rise dramatically, since their potential market is much
larger than before - consumers, who are generally willing to pay extra
for top quality, now have access to the best people - while people who
are only good, not great, will see their incomes plateau or shrink.
In pro sports, the best players make huge fortunes, while the
second-tier players make far less, and the people who are "only" good
don't make much at all, relative to the greatest players. This
phenomenon will apply to more and more fields in the future. John
Reed refers to the book "Winner-Take-All Society" to make his point.
If we're heading into a winner-take-all world, then you want to be a
winner, and unless you love what you do, you'll be at a serious
disadvantage relative to people who love their work. Remember, past
performance is no guarantee of future results. Maybe patent law won't
be so lucrative 20 years from now unless you're a superstar. Maybe
the unthinkable (for lawyers) will happen, and state legislatures will
allow legal work to be outsourced to India and other places that are
full of smart people who could do the work for a fraction of what U.S.
lawyers charge. The best way to prepare yourself for an uncertain
future is to do what you love.
After you're satisfied that you've gathered enough information about
future possibilities, I strongly advise you to spend a fair amount of
time researching what people actually DO all day in the jobs you're
considering. I'm sure you already know this, but being a lawyer is
seldom like it's portrayed on TV. Would you enjoy talking to
inventors about their inventions? Doing prior art searches? Drafting
claims? Responding to "office actions?" Make sure you find out
before you bet your future on it (loan payments can be steep). Same
thing goes for consulting and any other career you're thinking about.
You've got to do the due diligence and get in touch with your likes
and dislikes so you can properly sort things out, and choose the job
that makes you excited to get to work in the morning.
Time to get off my soapbox. Best of luck! You should congratulate
yourself on having come this far already... a BSEE is a great thing to
have, and through your efforts you're earned the opportunity to pursue
a number of great career paths.
Carl |
