I'll be straight. I wasn't good enough for the roles my batchmates landed. While others from BITS walked into RF, VLSI, and core Telecom at Samsung, Qualcomm, Mediatek — coding part of the technical interviews weren't my strength. IP became my path,
Not a choice made from passion but a choice made from reality.
And I made peace with that.
3+ years in, I've built real depth — SEP claim charting, 3GPP standards mapping across RRC, PDCP, MAC, PHY layers. Now moving into an IP Analyst Manager role (not a people's manager more like a technical manager) at a telecom team in a firm. Something I fell into out of necessity is slowly becoming something I'm genuinely good at.
But the comparison is hard to escape — the salary gap, the growth pace, the employer brands.
So asking this community honestly:
📌 Does telecom IP (SEP/ FRAND/ licensing/ drafting and prosecution) compound over time, or plateau early?
📌 What's the real ceiling at Nokia, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Samsung India for IP folks?
📌 Does the Indian Patent Agent Exam open real doors or just look good on paper?
📌 Can execution-side IP folks break into licensing strategy or leadership while staying technical?
For those who found their footing in IP after average starts — how far did you go?