ANd I miss those meetings, and will be planning on my return to those types of teams.?ÿ Rents have to be paid, bills paid and food purchased. I feel like lots of places aren't pushing people to license because they cant find people to fill the slots after people have had enough of the field with one way out, physical exhaustion and decrepid unusable bodies. Seems reasonable, esp hen they field generates the office work after the office generates the field work.
Chicken and egg syndrome.
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I don't expect to get 100 percent, but this test is to show minimum competency at a 70 percent pass grade, not the world's complete knowledge base of the field.
And yeah, I'm going into it with a chip on my shoulder because I want to get 71 percent just in case.
What I bolded is not correct.?ÿ A preset pass rate, 70% or otherwise, is not established.
This thread reminds me of a conversation many years ago (circa 2006). When I first met this person at a conference, within the first five minutes the subject of the California State Specific PLS exam came up. She had failed it several times and was immediately very outspoken about how flawed the test was. After all, she was a member of Mensa, therefore it was obviously a flaw in the test and not her intelligence. She eventually passed, but I never forgot that about her.?ÿ
I remember her...she experienced a hard lesson during that time
@jitterboogie Nobody is attacking your competency. I have a guy who is very competent, in the mechanics of surveying, does very good work. Has failed the exam three times, and always blames the exam questions and board but never himself. He doesn??t feel many of the questions on the exam are fair in relation to his typical work and so he tends to ignore those subjects he is not confident in. People like to operate in their comfort zones I suppose. Getting licensed is really just a ticket to getting out of your comfort zone and into the line of fire.?ÿ
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I never realized surveying was so bad.?ÿ I can remember grading potatoes and thinking that was a drag.?ÿ Piling 4ft pulp wood with a birch hook wasn't too great for the back and it paid lousy.?ÿ Welding rebar was neat for a month, then turned bad after a year. Especially when I realized that?ÿ no matter how many times I blew my nose, black welding slag would come out.?ÿ Of course, welding rebar was still better than bending it or working on the shear where I was nearly killed.
I was lugging 8ft concrete form panels out of a hot hole in the ground when I saw a surveyor work for the first time.?ÿ I remember thinking, "What a lucky SOB". Even after years of measuring trash in the NC heat, dipping thousands of manholes, cutting through forests of briars and poison ivy, and pounding hubs, that sentiment remains the same.
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@williwaw : When one of my coworkers returned on Monday from taking the professional exam I asked him what kind of questions were on the exam.?ÿ He said, "What they wanted to know was...", whereupon I interrupted and said, "No, what did they ask?"
I wouldn't know a Horse Chesnut tree if it fell on me.
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yeah, but you'd know a pecan or hickory. (also opposite leaf) ?????ÿ
@dave-lindell A subtle but terribly important distinction. I think people can easily view the questions only through their own lens while oblivious to the board??s perspective. Experience varies greatly in this profession and often the questions can vary to reflect that and it??s a difficult metric to measure, thus there will be a few questions that come from right field. That is for me the incredible value Wendell brings to the game with this forum, where we can gain some small insight into different perspectives and broaden our own in the process.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
@murphy Try commercial fishing in the Bering Sea in winter. Everything after that is Disney Land. Taught me the true value of an education.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Hahaha. Our forefathers called for local names for trees. ?ÿDendrology classes don??t do much to help you in that regard. ?ÿI had no idea what a Lynn tree was or a Wahoo when I moved to the NC mountains.
@spmpls?ÿ
Your Mensa member story reminded me of a situation nearly 35 years ago while serving on a board for a special education cooperative serving eight public school districts.?ÿ We had a teacher who did some very unteacher-like things with some students.?ÿ We set forth to terminate him with just cause, but, had to go through a due process hearing process much like a court trial.?ÿ He had legal counsel.?ÿ We had legal counsel.?ÿ There was a court stenographer present taking down the proceedings.?ÿ The teacher kept telling us we simply could not terminate him because he had a 159 IQ or some such number.?ÿ He could not understand how we were so incredibly stupid to want to deny his wisdom to our students.?ÿ He was, nonetheless, terminated promptly.
That's exactly what happened to me.?ÿ I looked at deed calls to a cucumber tree, then to a lynnwood and just scratched my head.
I know most of the trees and, many shrubs, where I grew up in Maine.?ÿ If I learn one tree a year down here in NC I might get through the oaks and into the maples before I die.
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One never knows exactly what he/she doesn't know. While seeming to be a silly question to you at this time, it did give you knowledge of an area for which you think has little to do with the profession where you are attempting to get licensed. Trees play a major role in the surveying profession from being landmarks in historical descriptions to being evidence of time on a possible contested line.?ÿ Knowing how to identify a species of tree, how to eliminate a possible species for consideration, how to determine the growth rate of a particular species, may save your bacon when you are asked to testify about a fence partially encapsulated by trees along a contested boundary line.
As it was explained to me many years ago, your path to licensure is learning experience. Your path AFTER licensure is where your true education takes place.?ÿ Keep an open mind and learn something new every day, regardless if you think of the subject as being inconsequential or not.?ÿ
As it was explained to me many years ago, your path to licensure is learning experience. Your path AFTER licensure is where your true education takes place.?ÿ Keep an open mind and learn something new every day, regardless if you think of the subject as being inconsequential or not.?ÿ
As a mentor told me, "Engineering school doesn't teach you how to be an engineer.?ÿ It teaches you how to LEARN how to be an engineers".?ÿ The same can be said of surveying.
Andy
One of the most interesting CE I took was about dendrology and the study of tree species, which can be identified even at the cellular level, and even after being long dead.?ÿ ?ÿEven fossil leaves can be identified by their form.
I feel like lots of places aren't pushing people to license because they cant find people to fill the slots after people have had enough of the field with one way out, physical exhaustion and decrepid unusable bodies.
Getting licensed does not mean you automatically leave the field to work in the office all day.?ÿ There are many licensees who still fill the vital role of performing field work while doing minimal or no office work.?ÿ There are many licensees who are stuck in the office more than they would like.?ÿ There are even some who have a very nice balance of field/office.
If a company is not pushing licensure, then there are more likely other reasons as they are not required to move a new licensee into the office.?ÿ Selfish on the company's part: scared the new license will leave and become a 'competitor', manager scared of getting replaced, worried someone might ask for a pay raise once licensed, just plain don't care.?ÿ Why they should be pushing: looks good on a RFQ, shows competence to the client, additional personnel who can sub into licensed duties as needed.
This work is no more (and often less) difficult than many many jobs.?ÿ There is no inherent reason a person should get to the point of "unusable body" just from doing field work.?ÿ I've worked with guys in their 70s who, after 50+ years of surveying, could truck through the woods faster than me and could still swing a 10lb sledge.
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I don't expect to get 100 percent, but this test is to show minimum competency at a 70 percent pass grade, not the world's complete knowledge base of the field.
And yeah, I'm going into it with a chip on my shoulder because I want to get 71 percent just in case.
What I bolded is not correct.?ÿ A preset pass rate, 70% or otherwise, is not established.
Correct Ric.
Also, I've edited bold text around another incorrect portion of that statement.?ÿ The FS exam is NOT a test of field knowledge.?ÿ It is a test of overall general technical and professional knowledge that someone with the required education (if required by the jurisdiction) and experience should be aware of.?ÿ It is not based on field knowledge only.
@jon-payne I think he meant "field" of knowledge as in "scope of knowledge."?ÿ Not fieldwork.
@frozennorth Ahh.?ÿ If that is the case then I retract the statement.?ÿ With his emphasis on technician services such as staking bolt locations and dipping of manholes, I took his statement as the other potential "field".