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Profession or Industry
Well, the other day when I was running the county records to see whether I could pick up the scent of the records of one Thomas Francis Jackson, a former County Surveyor of Concho County, Texas and Licensed State Land Surveyor, who died in 1940, I got one answer as to the status of land surveying there in 1940.
Mr. Jackson’s death certificate provided two boxes:
“8A) Trade, profession, or kind of work done”
and
“8B) Industry or business in which engaged”.
Box 8A was filled out as “Teacher, Surveyor”.
Box 8B was filled out “None”.
Now the answer to 8B either means that in 1940 there wasn’t any surveying business in Concho County or that neither teaching nor land surveying was considered to be an industry or business. I’m thinking the latter.
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7 Replies
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Kent,
I think Surveying has evolved over the years. I believe nowadays it is considered a profession. When that changed…. I guess is based on several things. Time frame/era I would suspect is one, but the most important (and I may be way off base) is how Land Surveyors hold themselves with regards as being a professional.Yes it is an industry but then so is medicine.
Just my 2 cents.
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> Yes it is an industry but then so is medicine.
I disagree. I think the practice of medicine AND land surveying have always been traditionally referred to as a profession. When was the last time you heard of a doctor, lawyer OR land surveyor who was called an industrialist? Neither of them make widgets for sale. I don’t think we have “customers” either. I don’t think we practice in “shops” either. But, hey, that’s just my two cents, too.
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I think many make to much out of this entire topic.
Land Surveying is a Profession. That is certain to me and has always been.
But Land Surveyors, GPS Manufactures and Software designers that work in our fields of endeavors would be the Survey Industry.
Industry is just a generic term used to describe a lot of related fields.
Deral
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I’m not sure evolved is the term I would use.
In a lot of ways, this field has regressed.
Sure, technology has enable those practitioners to measure quickly and precisely, but much of the common since and the ‘art’ of land surveying has fallen off.
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Land Surveying is a profession. The pracitioners work in a variety of industries.
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Steve Kersey is right on in my opinion. If you don’t think the surveyor is a “professional” then he/she is or might be a “tradesman”; but they might primarily do work in construction, or land development, or some other industry.
If you think that the profession or trade has “regressed” and that there were no bad or lazy surveyors in the past, I suggest you are mistaken. As with any profession, there are, and always have been, people who do a thorough and conscientious job and those who are lazy and have no common sense.
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Deral,
Kent’s original post was mutated based by my post. I don’t think his original post/question had to do anything with whether or not we are considered a profession or not but rather was surveying a industry/business back then.“Now the answer to 8B either means that in 1940 there wasn’t any surveying business in Concho County or that neither teaching nor land surveying was considered to be an industry or business. I’m thinking the latter.”
My bad on redirecting the original post. But, then again, there really wasn’t a question Kent posted. Just an observation I guess he wanted a discussion started on (I think).
Ok….I’ll go back to being retired now. The yard is still not complete…;)
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