Hello!
I have been taking classes at Fresno State to get into land surveying. I am supposed to choose a specific/narrow field for when I choose classes, and I was hoping I could get information on them.
I don't really know much from the two semesters I have been here(some calculations, some hands on work with tripod/total stations), so I don't know anything about what most of the different sections of surveying do.
So I ask of this from you guys: What do the different branches of surveying do? What is the easiest? What is the most profitable? Which is the most fun? Anything interesting about any particular branch? Any good stories?
Also, I am trying to get an internship or some part time job while I am here(Fresno, CA), do you guys know how I would go about that?
Thanks in advance 🙂
There are plenty of surveyors who practice all different types of surveying. Won't you get exposure to different areas of the surveying field? It seems like you should in a college curriculum. I worked at a firm that did everything from boundary, topographic, environmental surveys to construction layout, railroad, and monitoring surveys and even forensic surveying.
I like everything, but for me right now it seemed like there was a better opportunity to make more money in construction. I got lucky and found a good job with a construction contractor as their in house surveyor. We do some complicated projects that require fairly high precision and accuracy so it is challenging and therefor fun and not boring.
I am not a PLS yet, we do a number of types of different jobs at our office, but my bosses speciality is Waterfront Development. It is interesting because you have to locate things not only by a tax map (following the footsteps) but also by latitude and longitude. I am in NJ so we use a cadastral or metes and bounds system for properties instead of lat/long. However anything going through DEP uses combination of State Plane Coordinate System and Lat and Long.
We end up using a combination of total station via NGS monuments for part of it, existing local monuments for taxmaps and orthographic/satellite imagery. The coolest part I think, is having to delve through old documentation/imagery to see how things existed before.
It is really a lot of fun finding old records that reference things, that pull up more keyword searches for more information.
Plus it is always breezy on the water so setups and measurements become more interesting 🙂
> Hello!
> I have been taking classes at Fresno State to get into land surveying. I am supposed to choose a specific/narrow field for when I choose classes, and I was hoping I could get information on them.
>
> I don't really know much from the two semesters I have been here(some calculations, some hands on work with tripod/total stations), so I don't know anything about what most of the different sections of surveying do.
>
> So I ask of this from you guys: What do the different branches of surveying do? What is the easiest? What is the most profitable? Which is the most fun? Anything interesting about any particular branch? Any good stories?
>
> Also, I am trying to get an internship or some part time job while I am here(Fresno, CA), do you guys know how I would go about that?
>
> Thanks in advance 🙂
I am on the other end of the surveying spectrum from you. Retired with over forty years in surveying. As others have mentioned surveyors often work in many fields during their career. As an example my experience included surveys of farm boundaries and topographic mapping for surface mines, rural property splits, design development and construction of suburban residential/commercial subdivisions, to support design and right-of-way purchase for highways, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood control projects (included control surveys and many elements previously mentioned), structure (dam) stability surveys and teaching surveying at a local technical college. Some who frequent this board work with geodetic control, highrise construction and other interesting fields.
I suggest you list some of your options here and ask for real world examples of where these "narrow fields" would apply. The responses may help you understand where your options will help you fit in the real world.
I'm from Texas. I started college not knowing what I wanted to do in life. I ended up with a Geography BS degree, geology minor. And then I ended up going back to school and got my AAS in Land Surveying.
Personal note: While I was raised believing that you can do anything you set your mind to, as a female having my degree specifically in Land Surveying has opened some doors that I don't think would have been opened to me if I didn't have my degrees.
I've worked in the field as a Rodman and I-man, and loved it. The best rodman, make the best party chiefs. I enjoyed the I-man work on days when the temp was 95*F and 100% humidity, and I wasn't cutting line.
In the office I've been drafting residential/boundary title surveys, at one company. And the company I'm at now, I'm drafting pipeline survey work.
I thoroughly enjoyed the boundary surveys, and all the "if we encounter this, we should do that" type discussions. Even though some boundary work can be very stressful.
And now that I'm doing pipeline work, it seems to suit me better.
Surveying is SO broad, you will find something that pikes your interest. And if your interest changes as you learn new things, you can follow that new path.
Take the approach to learn something new every day, enjoy and appreciate the job you have, and you will never suffer from the "did I choose the right thing for me" question.
