If in doubt do more university.

I am sure you have been wondering why I am not posting much recently? Well, let me tell you…

I really wanted to start a post assuming I have loads of regular readers who actually notice my pattern of posting. I do realize though nobody cares, and that is not a bad thing, that means you all have lives, just the way I do, well... sort ofJ

I have started university. Again... I have been meaning to update you about it but it was going awesome, keeping me busy and I truly, truly love what I chose to study. But who wants to read about good news?

So I chose a course that gives me a professional boost towards my career of choice. The sort of thing they send new employees to once they hire them. I thought this will show them how eager I am (spending 3k out of the pocket to do something an employer could pay for is proving eagerness I thought).

So here I am actually just about to finish my course, graduate, gain exemptions from professional body exams (some of them) and conquer the job world. Only to learn that they like their graduate hires to be fresh and untouched by the job specific knowledge, that it will be better if I was just a science graduate.

Probably this is the moment when I have to say what kind of job it is. I really really really want to be a Patent Attorney. I have always had a flair for law and I think it is just a matter of coincidence that I chose science over legal studies. And then I realized there is this one legal job that actually requires having a science degree and combines rock-hard scientific knowledge with solid legal training. It gives you an opportunity to work with ground breaking innovation before anyone else knows about it. Exciting stuff! And… watch this… it pays well too! And…. Even better… it allows you to have a good life-work balance! Perfect!

 It is not easy to become a patent attorney. Because of the above reasons it is a very competitive field to get into, especially for Biology/Biotech graduates. It turns out Biotech is the most competitive of them all…simply because there is not much choice of jobs outside academia. If a Biotech PhD wants to leave university, they can be Science Sales advisors or Patent Attorneys. If an Engineer wants to leave university they get headhunted into industry. There is 150 excellent Biotechnologists/Biologists and Life Sciences graduates applying for one trainee patent attorney post. And there is only a handful of such jobs available yearly. I can only imagine what percentage of these 150 people are Cambridge and Oxford graduates. And they are all native speakers, who know where to put all the the’s in their application letters.

For the first time in my grown up life I have reached a glass ceiling. I am starting to realize that no matter how much I tried I am not white English middle class male and Russel group university graduate. It doesn’t matter how much I try, I am just not good enough. And getting a degree in Intellectual Property Law and becoming a member of the professional body will just not make any difference. It would have been easier to become a Duchess of Cambridge…