Hello everyone, my name is Kim. I am currently a survey tech in San Antonio, Texas. I got into surveying by accident. I answered a job ad on Facebook and the RPLS was willing to teach me from the ground up. My background is in anthropology but I have been in the surveying field now for 3 years. I am planning on taking the FS exam next year and hopefully take my next steps to become an SIT/RPLS.
..I got into surveying by accident.?ÿ
Welcome to the "lost & found" of professions. ;)?ÿ
The reason I quoted you there is because I probably know more surveyors that "fell" into surveying by happenstance that actually pursued it as a career.?ÿ Myself included.?ÿ And I say that proudly.?ÿ I quit HS in 1968.?ÿ My father was a surveyor.?ÿ No son of his was going to "sit around and listen to his hair grow".?ÿ I was on the crew the next Monday.
I hired a young man long ago that had a degree in zoology that had absolutely no experience in surveying.?ÿ He had said teaching was probably his only hope to find work in that area but couldn't stand the thought of being indoors all day.?ÿ When I hired him he was roofing.?ÿ He's been a professional surveyor now for over twenty-five years.
The engineer I was once working for came into the office one morning and told me he had hired his neighbor's son that had been mowing his lawn and wanted him on the field crew.?ÿ I was less than thrilled.?ÿ I gave the kid a zero chance of sticking with it.?ÿ He's been licensed for over twenty years, has his own outfit and is doing very well.
"Happy accidents" are the fodder from which we're made.?ÿ Welcome home.
Welcome to the world of Land Surveying....
I too, fell into the surveying world after I got out of the military.?ÿ I had called my ex-wife to ask about the job market in Tennessee.?ÿ She told me it was great and to head that way.?ÿ I pulled into her driveway at 8:00 o'clock on a Sunday morning.?ÿ Her first words to me were, "I hope you got plenty of rest.?ÿ You're meeting your new boss at lunch."?ÿ That was over 25 years ago.
Welcome to a fun and educational site! ?????ÿ
We have 2 Geologists in our office, a Geographer, 3 Geomatics Engineers and me, my Father was a Civil Engineer so when I needed a job 37 years ago found a drafting job at a small time CE firm.
Years ago on a predecessor to this site we had a Surveyor of the Week thing going for quite a while.?ÿ More often than not, this included the route each took before finding the surveying world.?ÿ Everything from bartending to working in a shoe store was on the list.
I answered an add in the newspaper in 1974 for 90 day emergency employment as a rodman. I retired from the same employer this past May. (long emergency) I applied because a surveyor took the time to come to our high school and explain surveying and let us look through a transit. I thought it looked like fun. It was.?ÿ
You guys are awesome! Thank y'all for the warm welcome. I actually stumbled across this site by accident as well. Someone posted it on Reddit and I thought to check it out. I hope to learn all I can because this is a great profession. There isn't a lot of people flooding into it or even heard about it. Maybe there's something we can do to change it.
Someone posted it on Reddit
Welcome to SurveyorConnect! ?????ÿ
May I ask which subreddit where you found the link? Thank you! It's always fun for me to see where people are coming from and how they are finding us.
May I ask which subreddit where you found the link?
You crazy kids and your interweb lingo.?ÿ ?ÿ
Welcome, friend.
James, if they let me in you ain't gonna have any problem. ?????ÿ
On the flip side of getting into surveying, a number of times while out surveying I've been approached by folk who have told me about how they used to be in surveying but are now doing something else. A lot of them are American (this is a tourist town down here), and the most recent one was a tandem sky-dive instructor, walking down the street in his harness, and he called out: "I used to be a rodman, So Cal, 8 years, finished 0'2.".
