patent law worth honing programming skills? what language? Forum

[senorhosh]

I have basic, almost intermediate knowledge of javascript.
I'm a chem major so i can sit for the patent bar.

Is it worth learning and getting better at programming without a cs degree for patent law? what language would be the best for this field?

I don't want to waste my time if employers are going to dismiss my skills without a
Degree.

Would i be better off getting a masters in chem? Most likely though I'd go to a cheap expedited course and finish with a year or two just for the degree (lot of my coworkers are doing this)

[typ3]

I don't think you would need to hone your software skills.

It all depends on what sort of patents are being thrown your way...

Patent law isn't really about understanding the highly technical concepts of the patent, it's about understanding the claims and arguments.

For this reason, one can litigate patents without passing the patent bar but cannot prosecute without passing the patent bar.

Also re employment it depends on where you're going.



If you are going to South Dakota or North Dakota where the legal markets and patent markets for medical research and biotechs / agtechs are readily hiring you don't need a masters. If you are going to be a lemming and want NY/CHI/Big Metro glutted market then you'll probably need a Ph.D

[rayiner]

I have basic, almost intermediate knowledge of javascript.
I'm a chem major so i can sit for the patent bar.

Is it worth learning and getting better at programming without a cs degree for patent law? what language would be the best for this field?

I don't want to waste my time if employers are going to dismiss my skills without a
Degree.

Would i be better off getting a masters in chem? Most likely though I'd go to a cheap expedited course and finish with a year or two just for the degree (lot of my coworkers are doing this)

Read all 3 volumes of Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming, plus the draft manuscripts for the 4th volume. Work through all the exercises in Abelson and Sussman's The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Finish off by working through Pierce's Types and Programming Languages. This assumes you have a solid background in combinatorics and graph theory. If not you should pick up any of the primers on discrete mathematics.

You'll never get a job in IP unless you can comfortably converse with interviewers who know all this stuff cold.

[09042014]

1) Know how to read a flow chart.
2) END