Following his graduation in 1900, Einstein spent 2 years looking for a teaching job. Though he wrote to different universities, he was not able to impress anyone sufficiently to land a job as a teacher. Meanwhile three of his fellow students became assistants at the university in Zurich. In 1902, while he had been still writing to universities, Einstein took the job of assistant examiner in the patent office.
In his new job, Einstein evaluated patent applications for devices such as a gravel sorter and an electromechanical typewriter. He became a permanent employee of the Swiss Patent Office in 1903.
The job was a lowly one for a man of Einstein’s intellect but he thoroughly enjoyed working with the technical and mechanical ideas of various inventors. He later described it as his best time. The job also did not take too much effort, and he could pursue his own interests along with it.
While working at the patent office Einstein developed his work in special relativity and other areas of physics which later made him famous.
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