I'd suggest engineering, nursing, and accounting, just off the top of my head.
One problem in rural areas is that there may be only a few employers, and they've been there for years.?ÿ You're stuck with them unless you open your own shop.?ÿ And then you may have no work since everyone uses the guys they've known.
I'm licensed in more than one state, and decided to commute to make my money and live where I do.?ÿ Not everyone can do the same.
Without a doubt, I'd have more options if I were a PE or CPA.?ÿ I'm good with my choice, but it hasn't always been easy.
I'll chime in for the surveying program at University of Maine. The program has undergone some changes since I attended. In my day there was a bit more emphasis on the theoretical side of mapping technologies. Now, the focus is more towards the practice of land surveying work.
@aliquot The following are my reasons:
1. Surveying work is dependent on other activities. If construction activities, real estate sales, government infra spending are down, so will our source of income. You can only get so many boundary disputes and flood-related certifications. Doctors, lawyers, teachers will always have patients or clients no matter the state of the economy.
2. The technology is working against us. New instruments make our work go faster but those same instruments with their ease of use make it easier for almost everyone without a surveying degree to use them. What takes several weeks to measure - plant interior, forest land, mountain areas - can now be surveyed in 1/4 the time it takes using Lidar.
3. I am not sure about other's experience but it is true that our profession is being looked down by other professions like those in the construction and legal fields that hire us as part of their requirements. I once had a client's staff that DEMANDED that I attend a meeting with less than an hour's notice as if I was his direct employee. I had a shouting match with him during the meeting because he was the type that kind of brags that he knows how surveying works but really can't explain it to his boss what the problem was with the boundary line so the need that I attend the meeting immediately. I had to explain to his boss that I can only give a final report on the problem after doing the field work and doing all the computations. Apparently, civil engineering works has the habit of making daily progress reports that I myself am not doing.
4. The work is difficult. We go into an area that is usually undeveloped and thick with vegetation to do the survey. You have to camp out in remote areas with no proper sleeping or toilet facilities. That takes a certain type of personality to pull it off.?ÿ
5. Profit is a hit/miss. You can make a big profit for a certain project and use up all of it while waiting for the next one which may come or not.?ÿ
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I'll key my answers to your points.
1. There is always surveying to be done. Learn new things and sell the service.?ÿ
2. If my doc buys a new MRI machine I pay more than when he only had xray equipment. Charge for value, nit time.?ÿ
3. You have to be respectable to get respect. If the client is the problem hang up or drive away. Life is too sgort to work for jerks and cheapskates.
4. Paid camping.?ÿ
5. Thar's a business model issue. Build the right relationships and refer back to number 1.
In order to make good money you have to make good business choices. Surveying has been a rewarding career for me. As I approach the end of it I can't help but lament some of my choices. Becoming a Surveyor isn't one of them.
I would make sure the son in law check into taking all of NCEES?? exams as soon as he can. The older he gets the tougher it gets. Just took my last exam a few months before our 2nd kid was born while working multiple jobs. Very difficult to find enough time the older I get
2. If my doc buys a new MRI machine I pay more than when he only had xray equipment. Charge for value, nit time.?ÿ
But everyone runs to the doctor to have an MRI result explained to them. A LAS file can be processed using a freeware without the need for any input from a surveyor.
But everyone runs to the doctor to have an MRI result explained to them. A LAS file can be processed using a freeware without the need for any input from a surveyor.
If you are talking about LiDAR or photogrammetric data, without ground truthing or verification check shots that LAS dataset is suspect. Good clients (and good surveyors/photogrammetrists/remote sensing specialists) understand this and write that into the scope. It is required to meet ASPRS/NSSDA specs, which are the gold standard that clients (worth working for) will use.
And in many areas, public sector work requires adherence to those standards, and often requires control work and ground truthing to be done by a land surveyor. Good private-sector clients also understand that surveyors are the best option for meeting the required accuracy of the check shots, ensuring that datums are aligned, etc.
Processing remote sensing data reliably and correctly requires quite a bit of training. If a chunk of clients decide to cheap out on their data collection and bypass the folks best qualified to do the work, I'd rather not work for them anyways. Eventually, when it comes back to bite them or they get in a bind over bad data, we'll make good money fixing their mistakes.
And if not, then there's going to be a reduced need for surveyors. The ones that survive will not be the ones that only know how to gather data and spit it out. It will be the ones that can design and implement workflows tailored to the needs of the project, as well as quality control checks that ensure final deliverables meet specifications - and do all that efficiently.
(I'm leaving the legal boundaries part of our profession out of this only because I don't see that going away anytime soon. That will still be an integral part of what we do, and we will still be required on any projects that require placing boundaries on the ground. I'm speaking more of what will likely happen on the "geomatics" side.)
Like I have been saying over and over for years now, we're not technical specialists. We're professionals. Knowledge workers. Our value is derived from knowledge, not a piece of equipment.
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But the data file doesn't just fall from the sky (unless you fail to keep track of drone battery level). Somebody invested time and money in the equipment and knowledge required to capture the data, process it and extract a useful product. Surveyor or not they are flat stupid if they don't charge for all of that and more.
We have lost a lit of work as the market strips away functions. If we can show prospective clients a higher value when they have us perform those functions we will get the work. If a kid can go to walmart and buy a drone, download freeware andconvert it to what the client needs I'm OK giving up the work. In all but the simplest of cases that isn't going to fly.
Forget all that, smack him upside his head! Jk! I have 4 daughters so might be on your boat one day
This does make applying for a licence more straightforward, but when push comes to shove almost every state (every?) state will accept any accredited bachelor's degree with appropriate major.?ÿ
Suppose it really depends on how much you like your son in law. If not all that much, go ahead and encourage him.?ÿ
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That seems to come and go. Right now, engineers seem to be getting tired of bad information. In the end, they spec whether a kid with a drone or a surveyor provides the info. Sure, there are regulations, but there is no real mechanism to catch any significant portion of the bad actors. This is why our licenses are not a limited entry permit, and they do not need to function as such.
I'd also recommend Idaho State University. I shall be finishing up my degree with them. The degree is 100% online, and therefore tuition is at in-state level. It is right about the same tuition as a community college so it is affordable. The labs that are required are completed with local surveyors where you live who serves as a mentor for the lab projects and receives a stipend.
But the data file doesn't just fall from the sky (unless you fail to keep track of drone battery level). Somebody invested time and money in the equipment and knowledge required to capture the data, process it and extract a useful product. Surveyor or not they are flat stupid if they don't charge for all of that and more.
Most Lidar resellers offer rental equipment with an operator. Their final output is a LAS file. It's up to the client how he uses that LAS file. Most rental companies have trained salesmen to operate the rental unit who are not licensed surveyors.
