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Hello from East Tennessee
I have been coming to this sight for a long time and reading the many conversations for some time now. I wanted to introduce myself to the many folks on this site. My name is Christian Medders, and I am licensed in Tennessee and Georgia. I have been in the surveying industry since 1996 when I worked two very smart surveyors in Brunswick, Georgia. I learned through several honest hardworking surveyors from a local county surveyor that really cared about helping the locals to a large firm surveyors that showed me how to make larger projects work. I somehow talked my wife into marrying me in 1997, and we have three wonderful Children that we raise here in the Tennessee Valley. 18 Daughter who is a Sophomore in College, a 15 son who is a Sophomore in High school, and a 5 year old in Kindergarten. I obtained my first license in 2005 after my wife and I put me through school. We moved her home to Tennessee in September of 2005, and started our little slice of the world, Medders Surveying. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to buy records from many the local surveyors here that have retired, or have passed away. I try to survey with integrity, honesty, and service to the community. I feel that I have taking both routes to get my license. I went through all the jobs in surveying that you could do, from holding the pole as a greenhorn, to running crews, then on to drafting, I was then promoted to running the survey department after I got my first license in January of 2005. As I worked, I took college class, and was actually approved to take the test because of college and experience. I could have applied for the test earlier with Tennessee using 6 year of progressive experience, but I did not feel I had learned enough through the experience at that point. I am feeling that I am one of the last of the generations of surveyors that actually have pulled a chain, and drew a drawing by hand and actually understand that it not always about the data collector is saying, but there is surveying law in place for a reason. I think there is a lot that has been missed in the college classes that a longer experience time needs to help balance. I have had few greenhorns out of college here in Tennessee that do not want to chop the briers and climb the mountain on your hands and knees while hauling a instrument. They want to come draw in my office for two years and go take the test and get their license to be my competition. I am all for helping someone, but I do not think this is doing the public a service to send out half baked surveyors to ruin things until they get it and pin cushion because their professor in college has never been a day in the real world and found that monument in the packed rocky soil the the gravel drive has creeped over making it hard as concrete to dig in. Well…. that’s enough soap box. If I can ever help anyone, please let me know. I am glad to be here and look forward to hopefully adding a 2 cents in.
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