/out/ - Outdoors » Thread #1806491

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Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 17:56:26 No.1806491 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>1806527 >>1806548 >>1806645 >>1806658 >>1807252 >>1808437

Is anyone here a land surveyor or know much about the job?
I'm looking for an /out/ career that isn't for hulking chads and pays decently.
Any advice would be appreciated as well.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 18:29:56 No.1806527 Report

Quoted By: >>1807333

>>1806491
I am, it depends on where you work honestly. here in southern FL, I do a good mix of /out/ shit, but I'll end up in wewuzland or some busy ass road often. unless you work somewhere very rural or find a niche doing property/road survey in an undeveloped area, you'll end up working on some mcneigborhoods, gas stations, and high rises. new neighborhood developments can be cool at first, but eventually they transform from fields/ farmland to cookie cutter yuppie homes. you'll start green making 13-15/hr, if you're not a retard you can make some raises, but with some school or accreditation+skill you can make a killing. one homie at my company makes 6 figs as a crew chief, but he works 7 days a week, he just loves it.
sorry for reddit spacing, english is my second language, wanted to be helpful anon. hope I helped.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 19:07:30 No.1806548 Report

Quoted By: >>1806619

>>1806491
The /out/ component varies quite a it and the day to day part of the job depends entirely the type of work you are doing (ie: construction staking, boundary survey, topographic surveys etc.) At it's core its a combination of math and law. Your job as a surveyor is to understand both as well as you can as they pertain to your work. GPS and robotic total stations etc. make it easy for someone with limited experience to perform decently well at the job but if you choose to make it your career you really do need education on traditional surveying/engineering concepts and property laws.

I've spent a lot of time doing enjoyable work outdoors as a surveyor, boundary surveys in the mountains hiking all day, highway alignments through national parks, surveying transmission lines for solar plants way out in the desert. However, I've spent much more time in the city working in the middle of busy streets, claustrophobic commercial sites, and big trench laden dirt patches that are soon to be subdivisions.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 19:23:26 No.1806560 Report

Quoted By:

As a surveyor you're going to be /out/ a helluva lot, but it's not all walking through the woods and being in nature. You'll do a lot of ALTA surveys in cities, marking top of concrete elevations of a sidewalk in a subdivision, marking lines for where pavement lines should go in a parking lot, etc, but every once in a while you'll get a job of monitoring a landslide slip above a well pad bordering a beaver dam and associated marshland and be exited you get to go there every week.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 20:32:11 No.1806619 Report

Quoted By: >>1806662 >>1807497

>>1806548
I'm actually in the process of deferring my law studies for a year OR dropping out if I can find something that's going to be more fulfilling than working 60/70hrs a week billing clients and having no outdoor lifestyle.
I actually got interested in land surveying from all my property cases, which were honestly the only part of law I enjoyed learning about. I asked my prof how often an attorney would get to do field work for a boundary dispute and adverse possession claims and he laughed saying that's what surveyors do.
Even though I have an elementary understanding of law will that help or hurt me starting out green? I've found a company hiring in my area but I don't know if I should place my 1 year of law school on my resume as they might think I'm an idiot/flake who won't commit.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 20:56:35 No.1806645 Report

Quoted By:

>>1806491
yeah get degrees in geological surveying then fly to Australia.
Mining companies (which basically run Australia now) are always sending surveyors out into the bush to look for ore deposits, oil or gas.
I knew a fatcunt from NZ who did this in Australia and he got paid $80/h or something to essentially go camping in the bush as normal, but just play with equipment for an hour or so.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 21:07:02 No.1806658 Report

Quoted By:

>>1806491
What's even the point? Hasn't all the land on Earth been surveyed already by now?

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 21:11:32 No.1806662 Report

Quoted By: >>1806668

>>1806619

I think if you have a good head on your shoulders, are willing to listen, and you're not a complete loser (which doesn't seem to be the case), most surveying companies would take you on as a rod man/carry heavy shit guy. You can go from there. If you're lucky and end up with a chief who likes the work and likes to help out the underlings, you can do well. The type of work can depend on where you are. Ive been working out of Denver for 10 years now and ive done like three ALTA surveys and maybe a dozen construction staking jobs (not many). Luckily, I get to do a lot of boundary work, and most of it outside the city. So it just depends on the type of firm, as well as location. Definitely, if you have the means and the interest, try to do the work now towards getting licensed--or at least know what your state requires. Ive come across a lot of dumb fuck PLS, but theyre always working somewhere and getting paid more than us field grunts. Surveying is also good for the solitary types--at my place it's entirely one man crews. So if you can work independently and people can count on you, you'll do just fine. Pic is most recent surveying pic I could find on my phone--setting control points at about 11,000ft around Del Norte, CO. Not a bad gig...

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 21:23:29 No.1806668 Report

Quoted By: >>1806689

>>1806662
I'm actually in Denver myself! Have you heard of Luchetti surveying? Can't find too much about them or what kind of reputation they have in the city. But they have an open position as a "Survey Crew Member" so I assume that's what you mean by rodman.
As far as learning learning and certifications go, I'm a pretty academic type and I don't mind working towards the credentials. Although I really REALLY don't want to spend any more money on school/programs at this point.
Thanks for the friendly advice and replies btw. I can't really find much about this type of job on the net other than basic trig classes and how to set up certain equipment.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Fri 26 Jun 2020 21:48:28 No.1806689 Report

Quoted By:

>>1806668

Nice! I vaguely recall the seeing the LSI acronym down there in Parker before, but I can't say I know much about them. If you get an interview, just ask about the type of work they do and what the other field guys are like. It might actually be advantageous for a total greenie like you to latch on with a smaller company (like Luchetti seems to be). In my experience the big conglomerates start to care less about the individual and its all about quarterly numbers (yes, they have to make money). The smaller fish have to retain the clients they have through competent work, so they need good workers. So there's value to them in developing those types of employees. I started out workin oil and gas in Weld right out of surveying school--it was an adventure. But I "graduated" from that stuff and now get to do a lot of cool shit. Give it a try--I didn't know anything about surveying until I just happened to choose it at a tech school in the PNW. I cant say there are many regerts. Its a little different with having zero experience, but you seem interested, and part of the job description is that you can learn and evolve. My company now honestly has better luck hiring people with little to no experience--the retreads tend to be retreads for a reason.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 27 Jun 2020 10:24:47 No.1807152 Report

Quoted By:

its shit

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 27 Jun 2020 13:42:45 No.1807252 Report

Quoted By:

>>1806491
Depends on the country.
Depends on local demand.
Depends if you are technician or have Masters.
Depends

However, the most important factor is that surveyors work predominately in urban and suburban areas, planning roads and checking on placement of old piping. The "muh outside" was a thing for a last time somewhere in the 50s in this job

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 27 Jun 2020 15:33:52 No.1807333 Report

Quoted By:

>>1806527
Based

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 27 Jun 2020 19:40:18 No.1807497 Report

Quoted By:

>>1806619
I hate to say it but the general population of field surveyors isn't the brightest bunch. There are definitely some very intelligent guys out there but if you've made it into law school you're already a cut above most. Just know that if you give up law school for surveying you'll have to be out holding a rod and pounding stakes for a couple years before you're even eligible to take the certification exam. Most of the RLS/PLS guys who have a clue end up getting pressed into office positions as managers, delegating work, dealing with clients, using CAD, writing up results of survey, working with the county recorder, and generally cleaning up everyone's messes. As a licensed professional it's ultimately your responsibility to ensure the accuracy of the work, as soon as you stamp something it becomes your problem for the rest of time. At this point in your career you typically don't get much time outside but it does depend on where you work. Small companies and self employed guys tend to strike a good balance between field work and office duties.

Like others have said, I'd recommend getting an entry level job (usually called rodman or survey tech) to get an idea of what it's like, and do a lot of research before you choose this profession to make sure it's right for you. There aren't many young guys going into surveying with the intention of making it a career so you'll be working with crusty old libertarian type guys and younger guys who "just needed a job".

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 28 Jun 2020 18:12:56 No.1808437 Report

Quoted By:

>>1806491
I've done a decent amount in the UK
do you like standing around on construction sites and roads? do you like being in cities? do you like peering into a scope all day and doing boring calculations for the millionth time? do you like dealing with trademongs? are you ok with the fact a considerable amount of work will be actually inside of half built buildings? do you like doing the exact same shit every day?
if so this job is for you

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 28 Jun 2020 18:38:22 No.1808463 Report

Quoted By:

Why not just be a civil engineer? More opportunities

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