本来想写关于interview的那部分，后来发现明天公司让去参加interview workshop，讲interview skill，当然是interview别人的skill啦，觉得不如过两天等学好了再写，可能更有意思。

讲讲这两天的事情吧，这几天几乎天天有午饭吃，不是开会听故事，就是大家找个名目下馆子，大家都有corporate card，轮着刷刷，霜得很，今天说welcome *** lunch, 明天说farewell *** lunch，不行还来个ladies' lunch，反正公司附近别的没有，各式餐馆一堆一堆的，walking distance，连车都不用开。

昨天开会挺有意思，听一个partner讲他打的诉讼案，学到不少东西，也觉得做law的确挺有意思的，不但要理解技术，还要有很强人文修养，最关键的交流能力。先扯两句这个讲故事的partner，使我们所比较junior的一个partner，我当时面试的时候就有他，其实我后来选择的这个所首先当然是因为这是最好的IP law firm，但间接的和他也有关系。当时我走进他的办公室，他说，你坐下之前先过来看看我的飞机，他的书架上放着3架飞机模型，我脑筋一转马上夸他：你的模型做得不错，得花多少时间把他们搭起来啊？很多男生都喜欢航模的，虽然我不fan，他愣了愣，然后笑着说：你误会了，这是我的3架私人飞机，这是我让人按照实际飞机缩小打造的模型。我就傻了。他的面试整个我们就聊了几部电影，然后他觉得我看过的电影还挺多，评论的也还行，总结说我人还不是很无趣，临走还说以后如果要去哪里，他可以give a ride。

回到这个诉讼案的故事吧。案子告在德州的法庭，这个partner每次去court就是自己飞去的，最神的是听说，他还经常在飞行中用自动导航，然后自己干活。说的是一个加州的小屁公司生产控制converter的软件的，给好几个巨人电子企业供应产品，有一天脑子进水了，把它的客户统统告了，说他们侵权自己的专利，想达到的目的是以后这些个大头们只能买他的产品，不能买竞争对手的产品。他们很聪明，请了个不错的star lawyer，准备做得很充分，并且所上诉的法庭在保守而封建的德州，文化背景就是仇视外国人，甚至都排挤外州人，法官们看着被告整个一联合国（被告大牛公司是外国企业），先就不顺眼了，总之官司特别难打。这个公司告了好几个客户，所以官司一个一个打，我们所的客户是最后一个，所以这个team需要旁听所有前面的开庭审理过程，以知己知彼。partner一个一个的讲这些trial，真的特别好听，律师们要分析1 million page的各种document，来准备各种可能的问题，甚至要去研究每一个法官的喜好，用最有效的方式去说服他们。其实，法律不是去辨别黑与白，对与错，而是利用逻辑分析来证明自己更符合游戏规则，游戏规则是由法律规定的，但美国的法律系统虽有法律条例，但条例是由各个案子本身来具体解释的，所以每一个以前的案子都是法律的一部分。最后裁决的关键不是谁对谁错，而是法官陪审员们觉得谁对谁错。专利案件的一个有趣的地方是，法官大爷大妈们一般都是不懂技术的，律师需要用最巧妙的方式教育法官们听懂技术，然后作判断。比如有个trial中有件很有意思的事情，trial过程中，辨方方律师试图讲解signal phase delay can reverse the signal in time。法官大人burst into laughter and said: councel, did you just tell me signal can go backwards? 很明显，这方后来就输了，呵呵。另外一个trial，控方律师利用德州法官的文化特点，把专利侵权对比偷东西，他问法官们：如果你们曾经被偷过东西，请举手。一半法官举手了，然后他就问，法官大人1，你被偷了什么东西，法官说，有人撬进我家偷了彩电，律师说，我的客户被偷了专利，他们的心情就如同你当时被偷了彩电，你觉得小偷是不是很可恶，法官说，当然，律师又说，那么法官大人，如果你后来知道了偷你彩电的人是谁，你会不会让他赔偿你的损失并受到应有惩罚？法官说，那还用说吗？律师就这么一个一个的问，问完之后，一半以上法官都沉浸在当初被偷东西的气愤之中，这个时候轮到被告律师问问题了，法官们看着他就好像看到了偷自己彩电的那个小偷。不用说，那次辨方又输了。我们所的经历就不说了，太长了。

最近我也被拉去参加一个litigation的team，又是这个大客户，这次是它的一个拳头游戏机产品被告侵权，估计又有好戏了，现在正在review 30多万个相关文件，以帮助证人准备他可能被问到的问题。其实打官司就是一场智力的较量，而practice law is not a science but an art.

I did not stop writing, but just proceeded very slowly. I took my parents down to Tampa for last weekends, so wasn't able to write a single word there. But, again, I did not stop writing.

 

After the career week weekend, I started my real job hunting.  I decided to try a little bit of everything instead of restricting myself in a small scope, so I applied to technical R&D centers, engineering departments of technical companies, law firms and even management consulting firms. My philosophy is it does not hurt to try, and all experience counts. However, the philosophy also says one does not HAVE to try everything simply because a job can make one super rich or it is advocated by many others. It is your own life, so find sth that you like, not anyone else. For example, my advisor stronly suggested me to apply for faculty positions, because he saw my success there. But after serious consideration, I did not pursue that direction, simply because I did not see myself in that position.

 

After deciding the focus of application, job hunting is really a process a lot like finding a buyer on a free market. Sending out resumes is basically sending out a message that you are now available. The experience included in the resume proves that you are an asset with specialized features. Now comes the time for the other side to bid and that is going to be the fun time. Typically, the stronger an applicant is, the more bids he/she will get. But it is really really important to remember that the job market is not always a fair market. In other words, the final result of your job hunting is decided by so many factors, not only your capacity. For example, it is larged determined by timing, by the market condition of the industries in your speciality. And employers vary from each other so much. A slow reponse or even no response never means they do not like you. It could be that their recruiting fleezes at the particular time, or they have to go through many levels or approval to even bring you in for an onsite. In general, do not change your view in yourself because of the response from your bidder. You never actually changes! And only focus on improving things that you can, and do not worry about things out of your control.

 

In my case, I posted resume on Monster, sent a few copies to people I knew in the Big 3, and sent a few directly to firms/companies that I want to work with. My cell phone started to ring the second day after I sent my resume and it just kept ringing. In other words, the response time of an employee varies from one days to a few months. It's mostly decided by their demands, not my credentials. The responses, in general, are much quicker than I expected. I intially planned to send out resume before I left for China, and then came back to take interviews. But in reality, I had almost all my phone interviews done while I was in China. Out of the phone interviews I got, I missed only one and got the rest on-sites, all of which luckily turned into offers later. Confidence is critical to maintain throughout the entire job hunting, especially during interviews.

 

Will talk about the interviews next time.

 

 

Next

Usually, after one door is closed, another may be opened, at somewhere you never thought it could be. Don't turn your back to it, even it leads away from your original destination.

 

I never thought I would get onto the track of law. To be a lawyer was just one of the random dreams of childhood. It disappeared later on like it never came to my mind. For some reasons that I don't remember, I became an engineering major, and have been climbing up to get the highest degree in the last eight years. All in all, I thought I was determined to be an engineer.

 

Students in my research area (medical imaging) typically have three, and only three, choices if they'd like to work in the industry: GE, SIEMENS or PHILIPS. These are, to be honest, all great companies, with worldwide recognitions. Medical imaging devices are so called big-ticket devices, so not many, if any, other company could afford to produce them. That made my job hunting seemingly straightforward but also perfectly narrow, to the extreme that if I fail with the BIG 3, I might end up with nowhere. And it really made me worried.

 

Around the end of January, after a long winter filled with no luck, a career week event opened a brand new door for me.  I had attended the career week alumni conference a couple time before and I was really disappointed with most of the sessions I went to, including engineering, consulting, investment banking, and healthcare. Just to kill the nap time after a nice free lunch, I sat in the law session, the one with least attendees. There were four alumni panelist, three of whom are practising IP law, and one of these three had a PhD in biochem.  She looked really elegant, confident and professional, somehow different from a typical PhD doctor. So I raised my hand and asked her a silly question: why do you switch to law with a PhD in science. She smiled, and gave me an answer that really touched my heart: IP law is simply technology pluse law, and it is for people looking for roadcrosses where science meets art. The answer became the prototype of my own answer to a similar question raised in every of my interviews later. So she finished her answer by asking about my background. After I talked about my BS, MS, and PhD (at that time, expected) degree, from China to the US, but all strictly in engineerings, the three IP lawyers said "congratulations". That was a big surprise! Something I never thought I would be doing, suddenly came to me at a reachable distance. Everyone else might believe I sat in the session with a reason. One of the three IP lawyers, a partner in a decent DC firm, even encouraged me to apply.

 

So I did. And that started my job hunting.

It has been a while since I first attempted to write something about my job hunting and the lessons I learned through the process. But right after I got offers, I was immediately occupied by the H1b rush, followed by my PhD defense, relocation and the start of the new job.  However, this is always sth on my to do list.

 

Ok, here we go. One bit after another, I will try to share the story and most importantly the philosophies that I learned. For me, it is a walk to remember, probably forever, and hopefully for you it is a good story that will be remembered for a while too. 

昨天终于一偿leaffe几天来的心愿，去看了transformers，感觉挺不错的，推荐大家要去看一看。

这个电影融合了hollywood的几大元素，有宏大的战争场面，有外星人降临，又有灾难片的一些典型痕迹，人类的恐慌和大面积的城市破坏，从这个角度讲，和war of the world挺相似的。但是transformer本身和一般的alien或者disaster有很大差别，尤其是擎天柱一方感觉造型非常有趣，性格也很可爱，跳着舞就变型了，而且变形金刚在我们眼里一直很标准的卡通，所以这个电影也有很重的好莱坞式cartoon痕迹，就好像cars一样，集合了想像力，幽默并将基本的做人道理寓于卡通之中。还有一点挺不容易的，是在这样一个已经具有了灾难和卡通的片子，还能揉进细腻的故事片情节，虽然深度和手法不能和阿甘正传之类的经典比，但有一点the terminal的水平了，非常类似那些大学生或者高中生题材的片子，比如the girl next door，a walk to remember等等。

总之，it has a little bit of everything，不知不觉2个半钟头就过去了，呵呵，对了，刚刚想起来，和king kong很异曲同工，大而全，不知道是不是hollywood的一个新趋势。

独立日，上班快三周以来第一个holiday，虽然有小山一样的活要干，还是以“活是干不完的”为借口take vacation了。结果发现决定是英明的，整整一天blackberry证明我的公司信箱没有收到一封信，平时是每2-3分钟必有来信的。昨晚把taipei分所partner要得东西做好发出去了，所以今天可以爽爽的take off了。

其实想休假的根本原因是因为爸爸妈妈来了，每天让他们在家里做饭上网或者自己出去瞎走觉得挺愧疚的，所以今天特地和leaffe陪着他们去national mall玩，运气很好，看到了parade，还成功拿到了capital hill的参观票，本来以为今天来旅游的人一定很多，票会拿的很快，结果我们拿到了最后一个tour的票子，成功在capital close之前进去转悠一圈。虽然我已经去过capital里面无数次了，发现每次听讲解都会学到点以前不知道的东西，比如今天听到了关于first, second and third artists的故事，以及jefferson和adams之间的不和，真是有意思，两人1776年7月4日一起签的独立宣言，然后一直是对头，最后两人在25年后的7月4日同一天去世，了结了所有恩怨。爸妈挺喜欢capital的，说很有派头，可惜白宫现在不能随便进了，只能绕到很远的地方，远远看一下了。本来是打算好听完capital hill的concert，看完firework再回去的，结果傍晚一场大雨，只能跑回家了，在家里吃爸爸做得大虾，看电视直播，也挺不错的。

变形金刚首映，leaffe非常期待的，可惜爸妈不fan这个，不愿意去，只能作罢，打算周末去补上吧。