"What did becoming an inventor mean to you?
I worked on my first patent application while at my first job out of college (second employer, acquisition involved) because the other inventor explicitly said I needed to learn how to do it. My grasp of technology was rough, the subject matter was not as useful as I thought it was, and the patent is now abandoned. But it was a first. I was blessed with the opportunity to work on a number of patent applications; I find it a good test of being able to communicate technical ideas to someone who has not been exposed to it before and seeing what they understand. I highly recommend reviewing patent applications you are involved in because it gives you an opportunity to learn patent speak in the only place where you should be (voluntarily) reading a patent. And like during my first job, it is great feeling to get a person involved in their first patent application. Because of an incident during my first job, I strongly believe in pursuing patents for defensive purposes, and I appreciate that my company's stance on patents matches up with that.