What would you tell someone ...

If you approach surveying as just a job where you just put in your time running out the clock to collect a paycheck, you probably won't go all that far, but if you approach it as a profession with a deep sense of curiosity and a commitment to self improvement and continuous education, the sky is the limit.

YOU get to tell OTHER PEOPLE all sorts of stuff they don't know. Students will love that thought as they've spent their entire lives being on the receiving end of that equation.

Surveying affords both the opportunity to be the tip of the spear in executing construction planning and works often using or witnessing cutting edge technology and methods while also offering a connection to the past through history, heritage and tradition.

That breadth of exposure is what I have found rewarding about the work.

As for what is needed for success, the ability to work methodically and filter out the things that matter from those that don't are two key ingredients.

I would tell them to learn to be social, gregarious, whatever you want to call it. And practice it everyday. The most successful surveyor's that I know meet those two criteria. The rest of us, not so much.

- there is no free country without skilled property surveyors.
- What other job lets you work outside, in a different place every day, and always be thinking, researching, and innovating about what you are doing, learning and growing from the first day to the last?

headywest, post: 418359, member: 9223 wrote: about surveying?

But if you wanted to tell them the one thing that you feel makes people successful in surveying - what would that be?

Plain old fashioned hard headedness 😉

I would tell them that Surveying is a solid (in demand) profession that will reward you for the effort you put in. You more than likely will be taught the basics of what you need to know by your mentors, but you have to work at learning because you will not go very far waiting for someone to tell you to do something. Take it upon yourself to read books, practice your skills and absorb anything you can from your mentors to learn everything you can.

I would elaborate a little on your personal accountability statement. I like to point out that everyone makes mistakes, but it's how you recover from it is what matters. Yes you will more than likely get an ass-chewing, and yes you need to learn how to deal with getting yelled at by angry clients, neighbors, etc., but what you need to do is figure out a solution to keep the project moving forward in a timely manner and complete that solution no matter what the cost. You will gain a strong reputation with your clients if you can handle issues well. Hopefully they remember the hard work you spent to fix an issue as an overall positive memory, because they will forget the 500 things you did right, remember the one thing you did wrong.

Personally I couldn't give one thing, rather a 30 minute narrative (that's a long time to spout in front of a crowd)
* success doesn't follow naturally. For most it's a process that leads to such.
* highlight the types of work that come under the umbrella of "surveying" and the areas those skills are needed in
* the need to embrace the good with the bad, be it people, weather, topography, locations
* surveyors are "an odd breed, often misunderstood". Relationships are often tested. Personal close ones ie. Be prepared to embrace that aspect of life.
*if no passion for the job, success, or job satisfaction isn't guaranteed, probably opposite.
* be prepared to listen and learn
*be open to new ideas but equally not throwing good advice or well tried methods to the wind. An open, embracing, inquisitive mindset IMO is vital.

Probably 30 minutes worth.
Do it with passion and an eagerness to see those in front embrace the "thrill of the chase" as they head down the path of a chosen career.
Nothing more of putting than some droll, dead presentation to a potential new set of recruits.
Let them see gender is no barrier.
Let your heart speak.

I have thought about this some and if I had to boil it down to just one requirement, it is this:

You have to be able to make sound, independent, defensible decisions. If you can't make decisions, I mean important ones that you own, you can't be a successful professional land surveyor.

I wouldn't focus on making mistakes! yikes! that would scare the hell out of them.

I would focus on the amazing technology we use, the ability to work outside or Inside (or both), the demand for surveyors, GIS, Drones, robots, scanners, chain saws and machetes. books and dirt. we got it all.

Talking about making mistakes seems counter productive in the short time you have to talk to them. Isn't that true of all fields?

For me, I'd be pushing the fact that its a challenging job that is not tied to a desk - we get to be out and about in the real world.

The tech toys are good too

And I'd have some cool field photos running as a slide show in the background

If you didn't find the corners go back and dig deeper, on the research side and with the shovel.

I had prepared a whole presentation but in the end decided to just talk to them. I spoke at two universities in Texas. One has a land surveying specialization in the College of Forestry Spatial Science program and the other had Spatial Science degree.

I felt that the forestry students were more receptive to the message than the spatial science students. But I might be biased since I was an alumni of the forestry program ...

In the end, I don't feel like I told them enough. It is very difficult to get across the scope and breadth of the surveying profession in 30 minutes or even an hour. The evening presentation at the Forestry program went 2 hours. I have heard from a few students since the presentations.

Land Surveyors connect the law and the facts to the ground.

And you could end with..."And firemen wave to me."

Lots of good stuff here.
I really like

Andy J, post: 418472, member: 44 wrote: Talking about making mistakes seems counter productive in the short time you have to talk to them

I agree - be 100% positive.
and

Dave Karoly, post: 423358, member: 94 wrote: Land Surveyors connect the law and the facts to the ground.

and

SPMPLS, post: 418454, member: 11785 wrote: You have to be able to make sound, independent, defensible decisions.

I also tell them something along the lines of: Surveying/Geomatics is a broad field - just like in medicine, surveyors develop different areas of expertise - look around the room - these people are your peers and over the years they will develop different sets of expertise working at different jobs. Your relationship with these people is probably the best thing that you can get out of your time at school. Yes you need to know the core principles but as your career progresses, you need to know who has expertise in what and you need to have a good enough relationship with those experts to be able to collaborate with them - some of them will be running companies, some will be hiring other surveyors, some will review your work, and some will be sources of wisdom. To be successful you NEED their friendship and respect - treat them well, collaborate with them on school projects and buy them a beer now - before it will be considered bribery.

I did this about a month ago, except I talked the entire 50 minutes. It was a GIS class but was mostly AG students and geology students. It was actually pretty easy to talk that long. I've also talked to realators and a couple of other groups over the years. For me personally and I enjoy talking about them the most, is the difficult surveys. Some of the horror stories when people don't get things surveyed, some of the court cases I've been involved with. Some of these I've been involved with and others that I've heard about in other states.