Why did you choose a job in this profession?

I studied Engineering Science at the University of Oxford where I completed an integrated masters degree. My masters project focused on neural networks for state of power estimation in batteries.

While I enjoyed my time at university, I knew a career in academia wasn’t for me. My favourite aspect of my degree was the variety of topics and the idea of specialising down to a single research project wasn’t appealing.

I had come across patents as part of my studies and so I looked into the patent profession. I applied to do some unpaid work experience days at firms in Manchester and London which gave me a better understanding of the type of work and career opportunities. What I found was a career path that would require a new set of skills and knowledge, but that enabled me to carry on working on a wide variety of technologies.

Choosing Withers & Rogers and the application process

After completing the initial application I was invited to complete a couple of online tests. This part is fairly standard across the profession. Upon passing this stage, I was invited to attend an assessment day with a selection of other candidates.

Withers & Rogers really stood out during the assessment day. In comparison to other firms, the interviewers were friendly and seemed interested in me as a person and how I might best fit into the team. I received two trainee job offers and decided that Withers & Rogers was the best place for me.

At the time of writing, I have been at the firm for 9 months. I have found everyone at Withers & Rogers to be friendly and willing to answer my questions. I would describe the hours as generally 9-5 although flexible work hours are allowed, as is working from home. The work-life balance is therefore generally agreed to be excellent. There are also frequent social events organised throughout the year, including Christmas and summer parties. These socials give you a chance to get to know people from other offices throughout the company.

My advice for those applying to the profession is that communication and attention to detail are vital skills, so double check your application and CV to avoid typos and grammatical errors.

What are your main duties/roles?

As a trainee, my role is primarily to assist my managers with their caseload whilst also learning as much as possible along the way. In general, the majority of my work is prosecution based. ‘Prosecution’ essentially refers to negotiating with the patent office about the specification of an application in order to achieve a granted patent. The objective is getting a specification granted that satisfies both the client’s commercial needs and the requirements of the patent office.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I work in the Electronics, Computing and Physics practice group and I have enjoyed working on a wide variety of technologies for an equally wide variety of clients. We work with sole inventors, universities, global corporations and everything in between. Every client works in a different field of technology, requiring different expertise and knowledge. Working on so many different technologies can be quite demanding, but I’ve found the variety to be more than worth it and incredibly interesting.