The world is driven by men and women who respond to that call of neccessity to birth great innovations. Innovations are products of the mind and for them to be effective, they need to be protected from those who want to unlawfully copy and miss use them. Every country has in place a system to protect innovators from Intellectual Property infringement. Men and women work tirelessly to these innovations are protected.One of such men is Ageet Abraham Onyait a patent examiner at Uganda Registration Service Bureau, we caught up with him and this is what he had to say:

Who is Ageet Abraham Onyait ? 

I am an outgoing, target oriented individual with a tendency to want things exact and perfect and with an interest in the extraordinary and brilliant aspects of life science and technology.

Describe your typical day at Uganda Registration Service Bureau?

On a typical day I'm in office by 7:30am, I start by checking my email. Then I write down my tasks for the day as assigned by my supervisor or as per the planned target output for the week.

After that is done I set out to achieve the first task on the list. Depending on the size or stature of the task I take a tea break at around 9:30am. After that I get on to the next task or I set out to the next item on the list.

I take my lunch at about 1:00pm and am back at my desk by 1:45pm. After lunch I move on to a less mind taxing tasks and the occasional meetings we have at the work place fall in this time. The work day ends at 5:00pm but I usually stay a while longer to make sure I accomplished the day's target.

Why did you choose that career path?

Since my early years I knew that I wanted to be an engineer. Along the way I came to know about a famous scientist called Albert Einstein. In his career he spent some time as a patent clerk. So when an opportunity presented itself for me to take up a similar role, it was a no brainier.

What are your main tasks and responsibilities at work?

As the title states my main task is to examine patents, however at the moment I am more focused on building awareness about Intellectual Property(IP) as it is relatively unknown in our nation.

What are your main challenges ?

Relatively low penetration of Intellectual Property knowledge, Most people are unaware of the assets they posses in form of intellectual Property. As such not many utilize their IP rights.

What particular skills do you bring to your workplace ?

I'm an electrical engineer so I assume I bring those skills to the work place but also I'm of the view that I add the interpersonal skills to the whole cocktail and a never say die attitude in the face of challenges.

What's cool about your job?

I would say everything is cool about it because I get to interact with super brilliant people and help them towards protecting their innovations and inventions.

What's not cool about your job?

I have not really thought about that part but I would say because people don't really understand what we do they assume we sit around reading books all day and having complex scientific discussions.

How did you get your current job ?

I saw an advert, I applied, did an aptitude test, passed, did an oral interview and got offered the job.

What subjects did you take in school and how have they influenced your career path ?

Physics, Math, Economics and Entrepreneurship. The Physics and Math have played a significant role in my career as I tend to use them quite often in the execution of my daily tasks. The economics is unavoidable as I live in this society where we buy and sell almost everything. Entrepreneurship not so much, I have not seen it's influence in my career path.

What is your Education to date?

I have a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

What aspects of your Education System have proven most important for your job?

Got learn how to research.

What trends are you seeing in your career field?

I see that in the near future and in line with the 2040 vision for this nation, patents and intellectual property are going to be a key statistic. In the developed world, market leaders like Google, Samsung and apple all value patents and other Intellectual Property protection mechanisms and I can see this happening in Uganda in the near future.

What are the most important personal characteristics required for the job?

Confidence, Interpersonal skills and communication skills.

Which key people influenced your career direction?

My family for tolerating my crazy experiments.

What is your dream job?

Head of Research and Development at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

As a student, how did you cope up with the pressure to succeed / excel in class?

Well, I got over the pressure by coming to terms with my ability and accepting that we cant all be "Da Vincis." There are things am brilliant at that others are average at and there are those am average at that someone else may be brilliant at.

What advice would you give someone considering this job?

I would say keep focused on your goal and it is achievable there is no impossible thing and all you have to do is keep good grades.

What outside class activities did you engage in that have proved beneficial on your career path? 

Writers club, Leadership and Sports.

What kind of work experience would provide a good background for this position?

A couple of years in the field of engineering and knowledge of Intellectual Property.

Any Concluding remarks?

As Einstein said; "You can never judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree." Just because you are not good at something doesn't mean you are bad at everything. Not everyone can be a pilot or rocket scientist so if you can't be one, be the best of whatever you can be.