Scientists and Engineers: Why Law? Forum
- ScottRiqui
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
I'm kind of a weird case, because I got my engineering B.S. right before joining the military, and an M.S. in physics while I was on active duty. So although I have a "background" in engineering & science, I've never really worked directly in either field. Now that I'm retiring from the service after twenty years, I'm looking for a second career. I have some legal-ish experience from my military career, and I'm attracted to the order/structure of the law. So I'm hoping to go IP, assuming that I can spin at least some of my military assignments as being related to engineering & science when it comes time to interview.
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
Med school takes an extra year of school and therefore loans, is three times as brutal as law school (1L = joke by comparison with years 1-3 of med school), and internship/residency is essentially 4-6 years of biglaw hours and lifestyle (much worse, if you're crazy enough to do OB/GYN) all at a pathetic fraction of the pay ($40-60k) until you're finally finished your 15 years of postsecondary training and are able to be an independently practicing doctor, only to be crushed under the weight of a lifetime's worth of debt if you wanted to be a PCP/prediatrician or otherwise did not score well enough on the Boards to get into a lucrative field like dermatology or cardiac surgery.bropulous wrote:But if you went from science or engineering to law, I'd be really interested to know why. Was it just a desire for more job stability and greater pay? Or were there other reasons too?
Also, I didn't want to be a doctor. So there's that.
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
Switched to patent law after 7 years in aerospace. Still haven't decided if I made the right decision.
- Leo
- Posts: 366
- Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:58 pm
Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
Care to elaborate? I'm switching to patent law after 4 years in power generation. Really hope I'm making the right decision.Abbie Doobie wrote:Switched to patent law after 7 years in aerospace. Still haven't decided if I made the right decision.
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
I mean, I'm not just speculating. I work in industry. At least in electrical engineering, it is very difficult to break into "true" engineering (I'm thinking R&D and design work) without a PhD or years and years of experience in an extremely narrow specialization. You can still do technically challenging work with a BS, but you'll also do a lot of grunt work, especially your first several years out of school.Desert Fox wrote:Engineers with bachelors degrees do whatever they can handle. You are not stuck doing bitchwork just because you got a BS. MS's are a reward for failing your PhD. Even PhD isn't necessary for much, though it's a great credential.
Last edited by yost on Tue May 20, 2014 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 18203
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
Well, you aren't going to be doing cutting edge stuff right out of college, but if you are good, you can do it just as fast as a PhD would take. PhD involves grunt work too.yost wrote:I mean, I'm not just speculating. I work in industry. At least in electrical engineering, it is very difficult to break into "true" engineering (I'm thinking R&D and design work) without a PhD or years and years of experience in an extremely narrow specialization. You can still do technically challenging work with a BS, but you'll also do a lot of grunt work.Desert Fox wrote:Engineers with bachelors degrees do whatever they can handle. You are not stuck doing bitchwork just because you got a BS. MS's are a reward for failing your PhD. Even PhD isn't necessary for much, though it's a great credential.
The idea that you aren't going true EE work without a phd is laughable. What industry do you work in.
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
You can certainly do true EE work without a PhD, but my point, like you said, is that it probably won't be cutting-edge or all that mentally stimulating (at least until several years in).
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
If you going into law because of this you are going to be terribly disappointed.yost wrote:You can certainly do true EE work without a PhD, but my point, like you said, is that it probably won't be cutting-edge or all that mentally stimulating (at least until several years in).
PhD's are just another form of work experience. IMO for industry, it's not really worth it. A year of Phd is probalby worth more than a year of Work Experience but the pay you pass up is huge. You pass up over 300k in salary, only to come out a year or two ahead of what you'd be if you just worked the whole time.
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
Leo wrote:Care to elaborate? I'm switching to patent law after 4 years in power generation. Really hope I'm making the right decision.Abbie Doobie wrote:Switched to patent law after 7 years in aerospace. Still haven't decided if I made the right decision.
It's one big trade off. I traded in a decent enough salary (was at $75-$80k at the 5 year mark), matching 401k, (quasi) pension, and an incredibly laid-back, easy, and flexible job. In return, I doubled my salary and exponentially increased my near-term earning potential, but lost most of the flexibility and laid-back-ness.
If I had stayed an engineer and got an MBA from State University near by like most of the other executives, I could have continued to enjoy a pretty good run up the seniority ladder. I hired in at the prefect time: my company was almost entirely populated by boomers that would retire in 10 years, and right after they hired me the economy crashed and they stopped hiring full-time graduates. They rarely if ever hired executives from outside the company.
I think in a few years I'll start to look more positively on my decision. I worked through law school full-time as a patent agent, so that pretty much ruined my perspective. Probably the worst 3.5 years of my life.
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
Truth. I know d00ds 1-3 years out of undergrad at my company that were doing meaningful design work on the company's major product development programs.Desert Fox wrote: The idea that you aren't going true EE work without a phd is laughable. What industry do you work in.
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Re: Scientists and Engineers: Why Law?
Abbie Doobie, I'm looking for the part-time program you were mentioning about. I have a PhD in one of EE or CS. Can you tell me about your experience and what salary range I should expect? And which area of the country you were in roughly? Thanks.
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