Hey all I??m a registered civil engineer & general contractor from NC with experience in the grading & utility industry for the past 12 years and civil engineering for the past 6.5 years at the consultant firm I work for alongside our survey department (really grown to admire these guys who have helped teach me). I??ve just turned 30 and my next goal is to obtain my surveyors license as it??s become obvious at this point just how limited engineers really are in this industry without surveyors?? knowledge (and vice versa some days).
At this point I??ve purchased all the study materials for the two NCEES exams and plan to try to knock them out in what spare time I have (married, working 2 jobs & have a newborn). After that is the state board??s exam. Any advice on this industry, or words of wisdom for the exams or things I might want to keep in mind while embarking on this journey would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone?ÿ
Howdy ncsudirtman
Welcome and good luck
Any advice on this industry, or words of wisdom for the exams or things I might want to keep in mind ...
Many engineers who get into the surveying game have a hard time grasping that survey licenses are about boundary surveying, and boundary surveying is mostly about law, research, and recovering, identifying, and evaluating evidence - not so much about measurements and mathematics.?ÿ ?ÿ
YOU are in control of your future, whether or not that seems possible at this time.?ÿ As each day passes you will become more sure as to what is the best path to follow as you grow professionally.?ÿ Take care of your family's basic needs first, but, work to pursue the experiences that will let you do much more for them over the coming years.?ÿ That may be best achieved via engineering, surveying, contracting or the right mix of all three.?ÿ Or, you may find your niche to be in management rather than every day field work.?ÿ In any event, the more education and experience you get, the clearer the correct path will become.
In my case, I had my engineering degree and one child before hitting the age of 22.?ÿ At roughly 27 1/2 had my PE in hand along with child number two.?ÿ At 30, child number three arrived.?ÿ At roughly 31 1/2 I was raising all three by myself.?ÿ At about 35 I gained a piece of paper to hang on the wall certifying I could add L.S. to my signature.?ÿ Life was one crazy ride up to that point and I could have jumped off in several directions based on the education and experience gained.?ÿ Surveying became the focus, but kept up with some engineering consulting as well to help keep the most options open.?ÿ Had also added a small farming business at 34 out of necessity.?ÿ Learned diversification can be profitable.
You will be tempted from time to time to dump everything you have been doing and dive into a radically different line of work that does not require your education or experience.?ÿ Be very wary of such options.
Yes this is very true as engineers want things that are a definite and easily calculated!!! When I first started here years ago we were doing sewer utility design for older/impoverished areas of the city that had recently been annexed in and we'd have to rebuild parcels' boundaries or subdivisions via a deed or plat. Sounds easy enough to just rebuild the parcel's boundary in CAD via the deed description but then I'd get very hung up on what a much older, recorded deed might say versus what the adjoining tract's deed called for. Locating the monuments and evidence would be extremely difficult as most of the properties had changed hands multiple times using just the original deed an the field crews couldn't always find these corners, especially when the deeds called for "a light wood knot or pine pointer" that might've been placed there 80 years ago haha. then came magnetic declination which showed me that just because two parcels shared a common line doesn't mean that the bearings for each parcel's deed will be the same. But yes, as you said, the engineer in me wants things to work out perfectly; however I'm starting to realize that surveying is an especially unique field?ÿ
That's extremely admirable to have accomplished so much and still be able to take care of your family (single-handedly too man seriously that's a feat not many could duplicate). I don't get as much time as I'd like to spend with my son but I do get about an hour or so each evening before he goes to bed. Holding & feeding the little guy makes me realize that my wife & I are responsible for him & he's completely dependent on us; not just us fulfilling his needs and wants but actually making the effort to raise a decent human being. My parents gave me all that and so much more so the least I can do is continue on that tradition for my son.
In regards to the diversifying your options, yes I can't agree more here as the more you learn in an industry the more valuable you become (within reason of course). I come from a family that's done grading & utility construction for over 35 years; I started on a pipe crew at 14 working over the summers and have eventually worked my way up to being a part time estimator and who helps build our GPS grading models as well as the guy who takes the cut sheets provided to us to help our grading crews setup curb line. I don't plan to ever completely leave the construction field as it is something I love to do (some days it's therapeutic to get out there and physically exhaust yourself). Engineering has been great so far at filling in the gaps in my knowledge and it's not something I'd want to give up either. But at this point it's becoming obvious that I need to become more familiar with surveying and that while an engineer might design the plans & the contractor might construct what's on them, it's the surveyor who helps prepare the project for the engineer, connect the dots in between during the construction portion and finally "as-built" the project once it's completed
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Posted by: @ncsudirtman
Any advice on this industry, or words of wisdom for the exams or things I might want to keep in mind while embarking on this journey would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone?ÿ
I would be talking profession rather than industry.
I would also suggest that the journey in surveying?ÿ will be lengthy as and therefore suggest you work for a survey practice that has some crusty old pharts?ÿ with years of boundary surveying experience, who are willing to impart their knowledge gleaned over a lifetime of boundary (re) definitions.
An?ÿ attained survey license simply means you?ÿ have attained a minimum acceptable standard of education and experience . ( I believe that?ÿ that?ÿ it is time?ÿ?ÿfor the public to be made aware of another grade for the experienced?ÿ LS?ÿ that?ÿ could be bestowed upon them by their peers)
Thank you sir for that. I agree with your thoughts; just getting a license isn??t enough to truly qualify you as a competent surveyor. Learning from those who have decades of experience is invaluable and something I don??t ever want to pass up on. Somebody once told me ??be the dumbest one in the room so you have others to learn from & look up to; otherwise If you??re the smartest one then you??re in the wrong room!? Luckily for me, the 4 licensed surveyors that I currently work with have anywhere from 2 to almost 4 decades of experience a piece, with each specializing in something a little different than the next guy. Some of them have been doing this their entire lives as their father??s were also licensed ?ÿsurveyors; other have been in business before themselves before ultimately joining the company we all work for.?ÿ
I??ve also attended several of the local surveyor society meetings just to put some names with some faces of local surveyors that I have heard of before but never personally dealt with. The one thing I??m noticing - my generation is not showing interest in this field. One speaker who came down from the state board even made it a point to mention the average age of a licensed surveyor in NC is over 60years old. I don??t want to see this profession die out; much less the knowledge and experience that these guys have which won??t be continued if guys my age don??t start stepping up to the challenge. But it also makes me wonder what the true value of a licensed surveyor will be one day too if they are few & far between..?
