Attn recent engineering grads....if?ÿyou submit your?ÿresume to my firm ?ÿand?ÿit indicates?ÿthat's you've spent more than three days outside in your life (or even worse, mentions you had a class in surveying in college) it's bypassing the structural & geotechnical hiring?ÿmanagers and coming straight to me ??ÿ
The Few. The Proud, The Woefully Understaffed.
I just hate it when they say in the interview, "I want to work in surveying a couple of years, then move up into engineering."
I just hate it when they say in the interview, "I want to work in surveying a couple of years, then move up into engineering."
To be honest, 90% of my workload is optical survey monitoring and the?ÿ2-3 year goal is to move the geotechnical & structural?ÿ?ÿinstrumentation (?ÿinclinometers, extensometers, piezometers, etc.) and vibration monitoring into my division...so I'm looking for Engineering Surveyors rather than Land Surveyors anyway.?ÿ
"Employee Pool"
I thought you'd put in a pool; so your field staff could cool off, after a long hot day.
It might not be a bad idea; maybe you could attract a few more...
I thought it was a wager on who would be employed the longest..
"Employee Pool"
I thought you'd put in a pool; so your field staff could cool off, after a long hot day.
It might not be a bad idea; maybe you could attract a few more...
jeez...they get an air conditioned vehicle, that's more than I had in my day.?ÿ And all the sites when I started were uphill - both ways
I thought it was a wager on who would be employed the longest..
I know who's employed first...first one who accepts the job.
All of my early backsides were on top of a Hill, and I would have to climb the Hills every hour to check the zero of the instrument.?ÿ
Attn recent engineering grads....if?ÿyou submit your?ÿresume to my firm ?ÿand?ÿit indicates?ÿthat's you've spent more than three days outside in your life (or even worse, mentions you had a class in surveying in college) it's bypassing the structural & geotechnical hiring?ÿmanagers and coming straight to me ??ÿ
The Few. The Proud, The Woefully Understaffed.
I too am in nearly the same boat, however our need is drafting/technical staff.?ÿ Good grief where is everyone??
Well fellas...??.a long time ago in a galaxy far far away there was a once a great and wise Greek philosopher once named Kevin Costner and he had some very sage advice, "Pay them and they will come".
But seriously we as a profession have done this ourselves. Nobody wants to be a surveyor because nobody knows what we do and it is mostly miserable hard work for not much money.
A land owner recently excitedly told me her son had just gotten a job pushing shopping carts at Wal-Mart for I believe she said $11 hour. That is more than most survey positions where I am. So who would want to be part of a survey crew working like a Missouri mule when you can push shopping carts with a motorized device for the same money and get to use a real rest room and toilet and not squat in the woods.
?ÿ
I've flatly ended interviews and or turned down offers from companies that had no clear tract or path to gaining a license. The schism is real regarding technical and legals skills, and as the technologies get deeper, the button pushing monkey model is being propagated more by the legal/lawyer side because people are willing to work for less than they deserve.?ÿ Vicious cycle, and it will only change with input and commitment?ÿ from the profession in general.?ÿ It is fascinating work, and the unique blending of brute grinding blue collar labor with intellectual and intelligent pursuits of problem solving and project management.?ÿ And you get to see amazing places too.
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( mic drop....)
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I've flatly ended interviews and or turned down offers from companies that had no clear tract or path to gaining a license.
That's actually my selling point to engineering grads: that I can get you on a path with experience in both professions.?ÿ
I've flatly ended interviews and or turned down offers from companies that had no clear tract or path to gaining a license.
That's actually my selling point to engineering grads: that I can get you on a path with experience in both professions.?ÿ
They have no idea what they're missing.
If I lived closer I'd be banging on your door.?ÿ I have plenty to still learn, and have been taught by the old guard too.?ÿ Its been a frustrating journey thus far, and still not sure where it will end up yet.
?ÿ
A lot of places talk a good interview game about mentoring/training, etc. Only a few follow up.
I got into office work because I wanted job security and extra money, not because I preferred to work inside. Ultimately I found that the extra money didn't materialize. Longer hours and more responsibility did.?ÿ And when those longer hours started to look like more money they put me on salary.?ÿ?ÿ
At the technician level - In field work I left the office in the morning and the boss had very little idea what I was doing all day. As long as I came back in the afternoon with intact equipment and the data - and no irate client calls - nobody cared what went on in between.?ÿ In the office you have a boss watching all the time. You have to plead with field crews to bring the data you, not they, think you need. You have to trust them that that monument they can't find is actually not there.
So you wonder why you can't find office technician help.
?ÿ
Do people still use such fixed field/office divides??ÿ
I haven't had a "field" employee who didn't spend at least?ÿ1/4 to 1/3?ÿof his/her time in the office in a decade, and vice versa
Yes, there are those that have no desire at all to be in the office....so they stay in the field.?ÿ We need people like that as some do not have the aptitude to work in the office.?ÿ Those that do get to move up the proverbial ladder, those that don't are typically happy where they are.?ÿ
While i believe a good mix of office to field is important as it makes each component better in the long run.?ÿ I would rather have a happy party chief working in the field full time than try and force him/her into the office doing something they don't want to do.?ÿ Each scenario has its pros and cons and as long as we are clear on the structure, we are good to go.
"Employee Pool"
I thought you'd put in a pool; so your field staff could cool off, after a long hot day.
It might not be a bad idea; maybe you could attract a few more...
Someone posted years ago that the best way he found to hire young field workers was to have his college age daughter helping him survey on the side of the highway.
Each scenario has its pros and cons and as long as we are clear on the structure, we are good to go.
I think either way there's free coffee, so ...
Whew! After reading all these posts I'm glad I started my own business three decades ago.?ÿ ??ÿ