Change up at Work

As I believe I have mentioned before I currently examine in the art of photolithography, or more specificaly, photomasks which are used as pattern templates to transfer images on the nanoscale level in order to produce integrated circuits and semiconductors such as are used for computers and the like. As a result, this current field is very much more closely aligned, in my own opinion, to optical physics than to chemistry for example. In other words I often have to deal with how light interacts at the nanoscale level, how it works when passing through materials and the like. Needless to say, my chemical engineering background didn't have a ton of applicability to this field. Nevertheless this is an area that I have examined in for 3 years now, and I believe, have become proficient at.



But that is all changing. Alas, seemingly my own success and that of my immediate coworkers are our own downfall. When I first started, I was working on cases that were about 3 years, to 3.5 years old, from the time they were filed. Currently though I'm at 18-20 months. While that sounds like it is a good thing, it also means that we are flat out running out of cases. It turns out my boss has way too many people working in that area, and has decided to move us junior examiners off to another "docket" or technology area.



So off to electro photography I go. As I understand it, electro photography is best known as being used in printers. For example, next to me at my desk at work is an HP laserjet printer. Electro photography, or at least the area I will be examining, will include the toner that is used, so compositions and mixtures for example of the printer toner, as well as the roller, or the area where the ink is imaged onto the paper. In the words of my boss, electro photography and photolithography are in no way related. Which means I will, most likely starting at the beginning of next quarter (1st of October), be having to learn an entirely new technology.



Pros:

As I mentioned earlier, my current technology, with photomasks is more based in optical physics than chemistry. Electro photography will be more chemistry based. While I won't be dealing with chemical reactions per say, I will have to examine compositions, such as for example organic chains and halogens of organics and the like. So this will bring me a little more back to my roots.



When I first moved over to my current office my boss dropped one of my favorite quotes from him ever when he said "I don't want you guys having a split docket so that you don't realize how much easier other art units are" and when he talked to me earlier this week he shared with me that he believes that photomasks, which I currently do, is possibly the most difficult area to examine in the Chemistry Technolgy Center. So that means, in his opinion electro photography is much more straight forward area to examine. Hopefully then that means that once I do get familiar with it, it will be easier than what I am currently working on.

Each different technolgy area has different expectancies. In this case, the expectancy for electro photography will be a little bit less than it is currently for me, working on photomasks. Meaning I will have to do less work each week, or to think of it another way I have more time to work on these cases.

Cons:

Simply, I have to relearn an entirely new technology. In terms of how to do my job, that should all be the same. But all the experience and familiarity with the technology that I have gained over the past three years... will no longer be of any use. I will be starting from scratch, since the two fields are unrelated. What that means is that I will have to spend a lot more time on each case searching what is out there, because to be frank, I have no clue what is out there. It will be a true challenge to learn this new technolgy fast.

Starting next quarter I will be starting my promotion period, which means an increase in total work I need to get done by about 7%. Additionally, I will have some of my cases pulled and reviewed in preparation for my promotion. Since I'm unfamiliar with the new technology.... well I shall just hope for the best there lol. But after the promotion period, which is 6 months long, I will be a GS13, which has an increase in work of 15% of where I am now. Which is a big jump. Also at that time, I will be doing the partial signiture program, which is the program you get on so I can sign my own cases. Anyways, its a tricky time to have such an upheavel.

Printer toners involve organic chemistry as I mentioned above. The last time I did organic chemistry was when I was a freshman in college, or about 9 years ago. I'm just plain rusty lol. The last three years I've been doing optical physics more than chemistry and composition. So it will be an additional challenge just getting back into the habit of switching the scientific gears.

So anyways, thats what I get to look forward to in the near future. It will be challenging, but hopefully the pros will outway the cons. If nothing else, it is at least a change of pace. And I think that much at least won't be such a bad thing.