Any proffessional Surveyors out there?

[Ty619]

Wow.. I never felt I was the final word on the subject but, lol I just got my eyes opened! I honestly never suspected so many various fields for surveying. I love diversity within a trade. Good stuff guys... I also like the sense of humbleness I'm reading.. no arguing, just facts offered. Was kinda getting burned out reading everyone trying to outsmart the other. For the most part I like to believe we are all smart men with varying degrees of specialization... strong work boys and good luck to you hunthigh...

 

[Hunthigh1]

Amazing and thoughtful responses from so many great people. Thanks to all of you.

Here are the details. I am 28 with a bachelors degree in environmental studies. I have worked for fed and state government agencies as a temp fisheries research tech for 5 summer seasons. I have worked in Alaska and Idaho and currently reside in Idaho. In the winter seasons i was a bartender and worked various odd jobs. I have backed off the fisheries research work because I am not sure its what i want to do in the long run and i dont want to be a biologist stuck in the office year round.

I loved the small town and the hunting in idaho so much that i stuck to bartending and skipped the seasonal gig in alaska this summer. The lifestyle (amount of time available to hunt) is great, but the pay is mediocre.

Last week A friend who works as a wetland scientist for an engineering/planning company in Western Washington recently told me his company was looking for someone to train as a surveyor. . . I have extensive fisheries field research experience but no surveying experience whatsoever. I am in the pickle of whether I should pursue his reference and go forward with the application process. The job will take me out of Idaho and into the big city, but could be a great way to learn the survey trade, gain experience, make good money, and then have the ability to work anywhere I want. . .

As mentioned before, my biggest fear is pursuing it, then proving incompetent at math and failing. I don't want to rise to the occasion just to prove a poor candidate for the job and let down a good friend who put himself and his work reputation out there for my good. . . . growing up sucks haha

All your responses are helping me think this through clearly. Thanks again for that!

 

[Ty619]

**** that, to truly succeed you have to fail once in awhile. Go throw ur balls out there and go for it. You sound like a smart guy.. 28, no house payment, no kids, NO WIFE?! Take the leap!

 

[Hunthigh1]

Yep no wife, or mortgage. Haha.

Thanks for the comments


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[boom]

Thank you for this. When you say "the foundation of math for understanding", could you be a bit more detailed. What math do you specifically consider that to be?

I'm a pro civil eng. I work w surveyors daily. I do a lot of the surveying myself. I'd say it is mostly trig and geometry. Survey h as a few golden equations they use daily and they are based on the basic math mentioned. It is a lot of fun. For most of our projects the survey teams are some of the first to step out onto the land. They bushwhack thru some crazy stuff. Just like mt pro civil license, there is a big exam to become a licensed surveyor.
Without them I would have one hell of a time putting a bridge in the right space. In general they give me the footprint of the bridge. I take from there and use my total station to put the bridge in the correct three dimensional space.

Go for it. Don't be scared of the math. For reference, I failed high school algebra. I blame girls. I had to start college with the lowest level of math. I sucked!!! Until I set my head straight and took it serious. Math builds up on each class. It was actually easy in the end for me. If I see an old high school friend and tell them what o do for a living, the freak out. They remember how bad I was in high school. F I can do it, you can to.

 

[ST52v]

I am just finishing up my first year of a new job. I had 14 years in a steel mill that started to struggle. I was working a week or two a month. One of my best best friends called me and asked if I would be interested in precast concrete inspection. His company would pay for my cert classes and test. I had nothing to lose other than letting him down. I told him , I would give it my best shot. I actually took my cert test with two guys from the same plant where my company needed me to go and work. One of those inspectors failed the second test. He worked in that plant for 14 years. I had no cement experience at all. Right now ,it is the best move I ever made.

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[Hunthigh1]

I am just finishing up my first year of a new job. I had 14 years in a steel mill that started to struggle. I was working a week or two a month. One of my best best friends called me and asked if I would be interested in precast concrete inspection. His company would pay for my cert classes and test. I had nothing to lose other than letting him down. I told him , I would give it my best shot. I actually took my cert test with two guys from the same plant where my company needed me to go and work. One of those inspectors failed the second test. He worked in that plant for 14 years. I had no cement experience at all. Right now ,it is the best move I ever made.

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Awesome man, good for you.

I'm going for it.

 

[gbflyer]

My son just graduated from a 2 year surveying program in Kalispell, Montana. Great school and fantastic program. He says the field work and fun stuff is a very minor part of the job. Lots of legal stuff. His program was geared for those who want to become a PLS. There's lots of guys in the trade who work or have worked under the licensed guy for years and probably know more about how to get the actual work done than the boss does.

There is quite a bit of math but I don't believe he had anything above Calc 2. It's my understanding that most states do require school to get the license, some more than others. I don't believe experience alone does it today. Your employer will know for sure. I'm pretty sure he's still got to take another test to become a LSIT then there's another one after 6 years work experience to get the license.

 

[Danny Hoey]

13 years ago I started green, pounding hubs, holding a pogo and brushing line. I have since moved upward and onward but surveying is quite possible the BEST outdoor field that you can get in to. Don't let the math intimidate you! To start, whether is be topo's or construction staking, your calcs with be simple addition and subtraction.

I'm not sure what type of surveying your friend's company does but if you get to do timber sales and section breakdowns, it is literally like a treasure hunt. When you find a rock with an "x" chiseled in it that hasn't been found for 100 years, it's pretty damn cool.

 

[ben h]

Funny, it appears Boom and I went down similar paths. I'm a civil engineer (PE) and I sucked at math in high school primarily because I didn't care. I worked as a carpenter for a few years after high school and learned that I needed to know more math. When I went to college, it was easy for me to learn because I wanted to. Get your course work done early and get your PLS; don't just work on a survey crew.

 

[Julius K]

My stepfather is a PLS and I have worked for him at least part time for 12 years. After lots of thought I decided against going into it as a career. You have to be meticulous, detail oriented, and vigilant to be a good surveyor. You have to be objective with the information that you discover. The surveyors that get in trouble are usually cutting corners somewhere, in research or field work. Be prepared to work in all sorts for f conditions, carrying heavy loads, dealing with irate landowners, wildlife and domestic animals, insects, long days, and also willing to deal a lot of inside work drafting and researching.

 

[boom]

oh yes!!

i'll be honest..i had to take Alg in college. surprising the class was full, so i wasnt the first person to drop the ball in highschool. my alg textbook publisher actually had lectures on CD that followed the chapters. i would listen to my professor, go to the library and check out that chapter's CD and play it at home, and then do the homework..it was actually kinda easy that way..but more importantly, it got that stupid crippling mindset, that i was sucky at math burned out of my brain. granted, Diff EQ is still a blur.but i passed that class!!

got get that Pro Surveyor thing OP. it is a great career! i just met with my guy next door and he is kinda stressed out he has so much work to do today..tomorrow will be the same thing!

 

[boom]

I am just finishing up my first year of a new job. I had 14 years in a steel mill that started to struggle. I was working a week or two a month. One of my best best friends called me and asked if I would be interested in precast concrete inspection. His company would pay for my cert classes and test. I had nothing to lose other than letting him down. I told him , I would give it my best shot. I actually took my cert test with two guys from the same plant where my company needed me to go and work. One of those inspectors failed the second test. He worked in that plant for 14 years. I had no cement experience at all. Right now ,it is the best move I ever made.

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nice move!! i just talked to my guy checking out all my precast voided slabs..one legged man in an ass kicking contest for sure! i think this career is gonna explode. California is moving towards precast bridges. faster and more environmentally friendly.

 

[Johnson27]

Don't be afraid to take a chance. I was in your shoes 26 years ago, except I had a wife, 2 kids, mortgage, etc. I took a chance (and pay cut) and made a career change after working in a factory for 12 years. I started by taking surveying classes at a local Jr. Co. and met a great mentor that offered me my first surveying position - rodman/chainman. I worked full time, traveled for work, and took as many credit hours as I could. I worked my way from rodman, to crew chief, to LS, to manager of our survey department.

Some pieces of advice: 1. Learn from the best surveyor(s) you can find; 2. Don't be afraid of hard work or long hours; 3. Don't let the math freak you out (my former class mates can't believe I ended up surveying) - algebra, trig, geometry is what you need; 4. Learn AutoCAD Civil 3D, Microstation or the software you employer prefers so you can eventually process you own data (helps in finding issues before anyone else, LOL); 5. Learn "WHY" you are doing what you are doing and not be just a button monkey; 6. Take the time to step back and look at what you have done, whether its construction or property staking, it's amazing what will jump out at you if you just look.

Feel free to PM if you have any specific questions. Good luck.

 

[ST52v]

nice move!! i just talked to my guy checking out all my precast voided slabs..one legged man in an ass kicking contest for sure! i think this career is gonna explode. California is moving towards precast bridges. faster and more environmentally friendly.

I have been on the same project since I started almost a year ago. It is the Gothels bridge connecting New Jersey and Staton Island NY. The only down side is working away from home all week. I enjoy it and the family has adjusted well to it. The biggest plus is I can go anywhere in the country and work.

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[ben h]

Boom, you got nothing on me, my 1st year and a half of college didn't even count towards anything. I started in math 090 (pre-algebra) and finished at Partial Differential Equations, which was 2 classes past ODE. I was pretty much a high school drop out (rather kicked out for some pretty funny reasons), but my Grandfather happened to be the dean of teaching at the University of Utah and signed a lot of the diplomas of my Principal's so they let me back in. I honestly don't know what strings he pulled, but it worked. Out of curiosity, are you left handed? It's funny, I was talking with another engineer/surveyor today and I think the field is disproportionately represented by lefty's.

To the OP, trust me, you can learn the math, it's not that hard. Go for it!

 

[Hunthigh1]

Right on! Love the diverse backgrounds, and weak mathematicians! Haha


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[boom]

Boom, you got nothing on me, my 1st year and a half of college didn't even count towards anything. I started in math 090 (pre-algebra) and finished at Partial Differential Equations, which was 2 classes past ODE. I was pretty much a high school drop out (rather kicked out for some pretty funny reasons), but my Grandfather happened to be the dean of teaching at the University of Utah and signed a lot of the diplomas of my Principal's so they let me back in. I honestly don't know what strings he pulled, but it worked. Out of curiosity, are you left handed? It's funny, I was talking with another engineer/surveyor today and I think the field is disproportionately represented by lefty's.

To the OP, trust me, you can learn the math, it's not that hard. Go for it!

bad-ass!! that is absolutely badass!! well done...i remember it like i was yesterday..when i opened that first trig book. hahhah..it looked like i was reading FRENCH!

lefty..hum. i am Chinese. little known fact. chinese parents HATE lefties..and my mom converted me. i was left handed and my mom..i remember negative reinforcement..forced me to be a righty. screwed up my archery and shooting skills for life..but yes. i am a natural lefty. forced righty. WEIRD!!

 

[ben h]

My parents tried the same thing except my head is too thick apparently so i'm still a lefty.

The first time I was expelled from school was for "allegedly" poisoning a teacher which was never proven. the second time was for hiring a streaker to streak the Brighton-Alta game which is a big rivalry and he did so in great success multiple times, except he totally screwed up the exit strategy we had prepared. these schools have around 4k students, so they're not small and it was super funny.....but it lead to my second expulsion, which somehow got "fixed".