Monday, October 1, 2007

From Astrophysics to IP Management?

Marc Andreessen has two great posts today on the misnomer of career planning. I love this post because there are no majors in "directing IP", and professionals in this area come from backgrounds with significant variance.

If there was a typical path, it would be someone with experience in one of technology, law, or business asked into a specialist or management role after showing some aptitude across disciplines. The largest category in my experience, has been engineers or scientists with above average communication skills, learning the legal and business aspects of intellectual property.

Some examples of backgrounds leading to IP management: Plant managers, Patent attorneys, Patent examiners, Patent agents, Information scientists, Product/brand managers, Career research scientists, Tech managers (grooming for business roles), Technical sales (typically end-up in licensing), Other (our IP manager for software has a PhD from Stanford focusing on computational anthropology and has exceptional communication skills).

Staying flexible and opportunistic can definitely lead to a rich and interesting career.

1 comment:

Erin-Michael Gill said...

Great comment - thank you. EMG