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A national ‘survey’ firm looking for people….
rover83 replied 1 year, 2 months ago 18 Members · 31 Replies
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It’s just a stock photo probably grabbed by the advertising company. I once saw a U.S. company ad with workers holding a metric level rod.
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It’s just a stock photo probably grabbed by the advertising company. I once saw a U.S. company ad with workers holding a metric level rod.
As a crew chief I often used a metric rod on USACE projects in the 90’s
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These staged marketing photos are crap. They would probably dampen the interest of any experienced Surveyor who might have thought about digging deeper into potentially pursuing a job lead.
I worked as a LS/PM for a company that had offices up and down the east coast before the market crash of 2008. Back then, and probably now, they always had the latest and greatest field equipment and had their in-house marketing people go out and take real time photos of crews working on significant job sites to market the business to potential employees and clients.
Flash forward to 2023, they are still using the same photos with the same employees (who moved on after getting laid off with me in 2008) from when I was still with them. Every time I see their posts I just have to laugh.
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… they are still using the same photos with the same employees …
Pet peeve of mine is websites that crow about their progressive thinking and cutting edge technology with 20 yr old photos of guys using stuff that was new 20 yrs ago.
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The first indication of the distinct disconnect between the workers and those who own the company.
I about went into shock many years ago when my first meeting for a job interview was NOT anyone directly connected with the department for which I would be working, if hired. Instead, I met with the Head of Industrial Relations (whatever that might mean). Oh, we had a fine chat about how she and my mother grew up in the same town about the same time and how one of my univeristy engineering professors had lived just down the street a bit from her when she was a little girl hauling her dollies around in a homemade wagon.
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When it comes to quality of work bigger isn’t always better, many times far from it.
I recently reviewed some “big survey firm” work. It was not good. Their theory was way off what it should have been.
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@norman-oklahoma He is looking at the swimming pool. Thats why he is holding the tripod .
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For some reason the antenna is the most cringey thing to me. Ha It doesn’t matter if it’s a total station or a toys r us walkie talkie, everyone recognizes a bad antenna configuration.
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@jitterboogie I have no idea if i am right. But I have had the honor of really getting to know many surveying firms over the years and not as a employee. One of the things I have seen is that mom n pop shop usually has the best mentors and make some of the best surveyors in what they do. The con is they may not always have the latest technology and might have a hodgepodge of equipment. The middle size firms usually try and standardize on equipment and software which is not a bad thing but the procedures are so standard that no thinking is required and heaven forbid if you think outside the box it will blow the next person in line of the assembly line approach. Again these are not rights and wrongs just different. The largest firms i have been involved with had some of the oldest technology and were very slow to implement new technology. They usually were very conservative as they tested and introduced new equipment. They also struggled with changing or adopting new procedures to utilize the new technology. So they used new stuff like they still had older stuff in many ways. Now i could name some very large firms that blew these things away. One firm not only stays on leading edge the push it to its limits. I enjoy very much the people i work with now. However i had a chance which I sometimes wish i would have done is work with a smaller firm. I believe at some point i will probably do that because as i am being exposed to a lot of different things now and getting my feet back under me. My passion is still in boundaries and i am not the typical employee either. I don’t need the benefits and such so i am lucky in that. So i have a little freedom. But if i needed benefits i would have to stay in a middle to large firm. A mom n pol would be difficult for me personality wise as i am a person that likes to try and test new ideas and thats not always in the budget. There is a few people i would love to work for but i dont imagine they would hire me. I am to old and crusty for what they need business wise. And they are not dumb business minded people. Very smart . They do good work and have a system. I just don’t fit that system. We share ideas and are good friends but thats it. Topo as builts staking are not what I desire to do but thats what I mostly do or we do. Boundaries is what I hope to get more of but we don’t do many. Yet. I push for them as learning that is what i love. Good luck my friend. You keep doing great you will find the right place. And remember if it seems hard to find just keep pursuing your license. Then run your own thing. Save now for that. Lol. Nothing like walking in and buying what you want and need for a business and knowing its paid for. Takes a load off. If i were 20 years younger i might hang a shingle myself if and when i were licensed. Maybe still do it for a side hustle after 60 just for fun. I should have come back to this side a long time ago.
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… they are still using the same photos with the same employees …
Pet peeve of mine is websites that crow about their progressive thinking and cutting edge technology with 20 yr old photos of guys using stuff that was new 20 yrs ago.
Or getting hired on and finding out that the nearly-new gear is being used exactly like 20-year-old gear would have been used.
Also, they have post-processing software but don’t ever use it – just dump CSVs out of the collectors (with 3-character codes and no other information, naturally) directly into CAD.
(Don’t forget the obligatory “we have drones!” portion of their website, that uses a stock photo of an entry-level sUAS platform but contains no information on what exactly they do with said drones.)
“…people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” -Neil Postman
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