Here's the real question....?ÿ Why aren't the salaries of licensed professional surveyors going through the roof??ÿ Supply and demand is a pretty widely accepted principle throughout many facets of life.
More demand and less supply = higher salaries = more interest in the profession in a perfect world.?ÿ?ÿ
I have met the enemy, and he is us.
Eh, firms aren't upping their rates to match demand, and you can bet that in the corporate world (where a lot of the big dollar contracts are coming in right now) middle- and upper-management ain't going to give up of their piece of the pie.
Around here firms are gulping as much work as they can in the short term, flogging project surveyors and production teams to shove work out the door as fast as they can, under the standard operating principle of "everything's fine if the next quarterly report is good".
Yeah, firms are screeching about "CanT FiND GoOd PEoplE", but I don't see any stepping up to do anything about it.
firms are gulping as much work as they can in the short term, flogging project surveyors and production teams to shove work out the door as fast as they can, under the standard operating principle of "everything's fine if the next quarterly report is good".
So true
@dleidigh That's a financial decision on your end.?ÿ If you are thinking about making a move, your options are pretty wide open.?ÿ Best of luck to you in whatever you do.?ÿ The fact that you are considering your forward progress says allot for you.?ÿ I like seeing that you are going after the brass ring.
And then be the first person jettisoned when the inevitable downturn comes. The OP has a?ÿ gov't job, which are, generally, at least stable. What inevitably follows these hot markets? The crash! And the hotter the market, the harder the crash. Things are very very uncertain right now and my advice is that right now stability is a very valuable thing to have. There will be plenty of opportunities to reach for the brass ring once things settle out.?ÿ
Finding people isn't a problem money can't solve.?ÿ Tell your agency to pay more, imo.
Figured the training area would be best place to post this, but I suppose the employment area would have worked as well.?ÿ I wanted to get outside takes on the situation we've been experiencing in a municipality in the Denver Metro Area.?ÿ I was hired back in June 2020 in what I figured (somewhat foolishly at the time) would be the "middle" of the pandemic.?ÿ Hired in as a survey tech into a 4-person survey group.?ÿ PLS retired at the end of the year and we have yet to fill that position.?ÿ Yup, 9 months later, still no LS.?ÿ Needless to say, we've been using an on-call for boundary determinations, but my main concern is that as someone interested in licensure I can't gain experience under an LS.?ÿ The Party Chief and other Technician have loads of experience, but that does little to quell my need for experience under an LS, as spelled out in the statutes and desire for learning under an LS and having more of a mentorship experience.?ÿ How long would you wait before looking to move on??ÿ As fun as construction staking is, my desire is to learn and know more about boundary surveying.?ÿ?ÿ
To give you a sense, I'm about 6 months out from sitting for my FS, have passed CST level 1, planning on continuing along the CST track and have my FAA part 107.
I would contact the State Board and find out directly from them whether experience under a "on-call" would meet their requirements.?ÿ Texas requires a surveying firm to have a registered professional land surveyor employed full time in order to practice and also that the surveyor shall notify the Board within a certain period of time that he/she has been employed by the new firm.?ÿ I know you are not in Texas but many if not most States are very particular about what experience they feel meets their requirements.
Also, I would be concerned about whether the "on call" would be willing to be a reference for you.?ÿ ?ÿDoes he/she even know who you are??ÿ If he/she makes boundary determinations, do they sign and seal the products of your firms work such as plats?
You have some very important decisions to make concerning your path to registration and I wish you the best of luck but if I would have been placed in the situation you are in now, forty years ago when I was working toward registration, I would have been out the door nine months ago.?ÿ
Congratulations on passing your CST level 1.
Replying to the thread generally:
I know of at least three companies / municipalities that I interviewed with, who are still looking for a PLS, 2-5 years later. They interviewed me because I have a PLS at all. They were looking for someone who doesn't exist: A PLS project manager / survey manager, licensed 10 years, knows engineering surveying, knows boundary surveying, knows every piece of paper a survey department might be asked to produce, maybe can even bring some clients and wants to schmooze clients in the evenings.
The city maybe hired a tech who promised to get licensed within 6 mos. but is still using an outside contractor PLS to stamp.
The big company lost their PLS to cancer, wish I had met him, he was really nice on the phone, could have learned a lot from him, without finding a replacement to mentor before they lost him.
The small company continues to rely on contract PLS, being unable to entice anyone to split brain between project management / property access phone interruption minutiae and Civil3D slavery. Deal breakers exist.
I have removed every trace of resume from the internet.
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I'm in the front range as well and can probably make a strong guess as to the PLS position your municipality is trying to fill.?ÿ I believe its tough to fill since A) more PLSs are retiring then graduating and B) govt positions tend to pay less than private ones.?ÿ Especially right now while EVERY survey firm is hiring (see A).?ÿ Wording on your posts has me wondering if you're doing more construction staking, or you're worried if you leave it's all you'll be doing.?ÿ If right now construction staking is most of your workload, you'll definitely want to move on sooner rather than later.?ÿ The Colorado board will most definitely not consider your experience without progressive boundary experience.?ÿ My PLS told me to not even mention construction staking in my application for the FS or PS.?ÿ?ÿ
@horseshoes-handgrenades I think you're likely spot on with your guess.?ÿ I definitely had concern about the progressive boundary experience with the board and my plan was to bring that concern up with the PLS once they were hired to ensure that my ratio of workload swung to the opposite of what it is currently.?ÿ As it is, I'm likely close to 20-25% boundary work, if you include research and field work which pertains to boundary.?ÿ I'm a little concerned that I'll have used up all my allotted 2 years experience in construction work by the time the LS arrives and it will take 8-10 years to get 4 years work of progressive boundary experience under my belt.
@dleidigh It sounds to me like you've just answered your own question. You need to move on to a firm/municipality that will give you the experience you need to move on in your career. I would start by having a talk with your contract PLS. He/she may have an interest in bringing you on board, or he/she may have suggestions on which firms to look at.
No career move comes without risks. If you let fear dictate your decisions, you will never be successful.?ÿ
Good luck.
@rover83?ÿ
We had a similar situation. My LS decided to retire and luckily he stayed on for 9 months, but then the 2 months between are vacant.
It's hard to attract a well experienced LS at 50% or less than market(not pipeline or O&G) regardless of the future pension discussion.
Great for young new Surveyors, but not seasoned.
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I'm about to leap to see if my net will appear.
I can't find help, period.
Starting wage for inexperienced, but interested persons at $20/hr all the way up to $45/hr for a well experienced person.?ÿ Office or field.
I offered a well seasoned Party Chief $50/hr with option to buy into employee owned company.?ÿ Nothing!
I'll just keep pluggin' away with what I can do on my own.?ÿ Still have 8 to 10 weeks back log of work and starting to schedule for next spring after the snow breaks in March.
@sub-d-vider just curious, what part of the country are you in?
@k-huerth The west slope of Colorado.
There was a time when the west slope of Colorado was only populated with sane people.?ÿ Then the (%^$$%#^%$*&*&%^^^&%**&) from specific other States decided to abandon their longtime homes and upset the apple cart.?ÿ By the way, an apple picking cart was a mainstay in many parts of the west slope.?ÿ My wife's grandmother and her sister left the Ozarks for a money-making trip to Colorado to pick peaches.?ÿ The sister returned to the Ozarks.?ÿ The grandmother set up ranching with a rodeo performer whose parents ran a resort near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
It??s a sad state of affairs, but predictable years ago by looking at demographics. ?ÿI??m an PLS, registered 40 years, Chief BLM Cadastral Surveyor and Photogrammitrist with Part 107 SUV license. ?ÿIm trying not to fail at retirement a fourth time. ?ÿ ?ÿHeadhunters pester me all the time with golden carrots on a string. ?ÿI??m too busy to work anymore, but do like mentoring and passing on knowledge.
?ÿI??m the charactor blue vest and sunglasses in the upper right.?ÿ
@james-fleming wow, can you believe how far out of reality this is? I can't
Mentor away Man, we need all the knowledge dumps we can handle!!
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Allez allez allez!!!!