[Christ]

When I worked in Binghamton, NY, I did freelance (It wasn't my job description, but I did it anyway) consulting with the engineers to help design new pieces and parts that would actually be workable in the real world, not just on paper. I don't have a degree, so they weren't paying me to be an engineer, but many of the engineers and print-handlers there would come to me. Amazing what a piece of paper can do for your paycheck, ain't it?

I also did some time at Endicott Interconnect, where I designed 3 different tables for holding cores during the etch process, saving the company several hundred thousand a year in damaged cores... Of course, because of the way the company is set up, someone else gets credit for it, they get the bonus, and you get laid off after 6 months.

They have an agreement that you sign to get hired there that if you file a patent while working for them, they can view, discuss, and take part in it, and if you part ways, they take ownership of it. Oh yes, IBM has gone to ****. (EIT is the old IBM, the new IBM is not even close to the same company.)