@jitterboogie Thank you for the kudos on the website!?ÿ I've mentored many and all but two have passed their exams on the first try.?ÿ One had a learning disability (although he overcame it and has been licensed for 20 years) and the other just couldn't devote enough energy while trying to raise his son alone.
I look forward to reviewing whatever you send over.
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Best,
Larry
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We had this issue at the firm I used to work for. We ended up doing an overhaul of the point coding sheet that the crews were required to use and creating an extensive survey database for Civil 3D. It took a long time and several old timers who were crew chiefs chose to retire early or endure @$$ chewings on the regular from the majority partner who was a next to useless know it all. To compound things further, the survey department manager was a newly hired on PLS who brought 2 crews with him but had only ever used Carlson and the old timers didn't mesh well at first as the former department head had retired and the other PLS did all the data import, reduction and base mapping (he was a quiet fellow who kept to himself). The field crews eventually grew to respect the new department head though but it was a process to keep the owners pleased with the progress of implementing a new survey database as old dogs don't care to learn new tricks and I can't blame them. One guy refused to use a data collector until the last year of his 35yr career - he booked every shot haha and gave me hell for being an engineer
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My advice would be to know how each party chief codes things and then see if you can do maybe a transformation of the raw point descriptions to what you prefer to use for your base mapping purposes (excel would be an easy medium to do this). See if small changes that they can all agree upon for coding would help you guys out back in the office then implement them for a few months. Once the dust settles make a few more small changes in series until after a year or so you have them coding things the way you want without a huge disruption in the productivity of the field crews. I know most department heads would scream at this but typically the firms' owners always care about the cost of the field crews being less efficient (2-3 guys per crew) over the headache of just a few people doing the base mapping when they look at billable rates. The firm I was at always put the onus on us doing the basemapping to see if what we imported made any sense - especially linework. I'm not saying that it is right how they use money as the sole basis for decisions but that's usually how it is in business. But small changes implemented over time may help you/the dept after say 6-9 months time and revising say a dozen things here or there
Wow that sounds frustrating to be sure! Funny, the old codgers i worked with left me with deep insights and impressions that are very similar. Couldn't didnt want to use computers, and boy howdy could they field work it like animals. Learned my foundations of field work from them, and even exchanged the computer parts they were willing to learn( hey, fix this, i cant use computers..).
Thank you for sharing, again, the representative population here in the routine and even lurker( not YOU Lurker) posts belie the fact in general most surveyors/geospatial personnel are legitimately well adjusted and on the same path or affliction as it might be deemed.
I was dumped into a fully functioning and really highly developed efficient multi-tiered and shared F2F operating AEC Public Works group, municipal even if you can believe it. It was the reason i wanted to land there. Internal pensioner coasters aside, I really only left for money(not always a good reason but this was a factor) and mainly because the new Younger less experienced surveyor(gained stamp 05/2021) wanted to take a step back from the 3d line work and Scans because he wasn't up to speed with it. And he also wanted to reinvent his own wheels, which is great, but slows my forward progress to get to where he just landed.
I still like to have a field book for the simple things, like Weather and conditions when I arrive on a site, sketches, names of random people that accost me and ask random questions or assertions of their property rights etc, and other things a DC doesn't really have a value in trying capture. I'm always going to have one too.?ÿ But its not the driving force of the work.
I will take your advice, and all the other advice provided too, and use this as my surrogate mentoring platform. My roles will indeed utilize this information, and I know I have plenty to both learn and offer too.
Again another reason why this site has been invaluable to me and hope many others in our daily and yearly drive to get to where we want to be and participate at a professional level.
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I'm kind of short on patience with people, old or otherwise, who just can't deal with computerization. These people were in the room on the day the first Kaypro was wheeled in. They've had 30 or 40 years to catch on. It's not like they were 60 years old in 1980.?ÿ?ÿ
It's that feeling of "Enough is enough."?ÿ There was a time when it took decades for significant technological changes.?ÿ Now it seems those changes come every month.?ÿ You are declared out of date as soon as you buy something.
There was a time in my life where calling someone a couple miles distant required cranking a telephone.?ÿ Then dial phones changed that to dialing four numbers.?ÿ Push-button phones changed that to pushing four buttons.?ÿ Eventually that grew to seven numbers.?ÿ Now, it is eleven numbers.?ÿ Soon, that may be expanded to add the Country code.
Our address was simply Rural Route, Anywhere because there was only one rural route.?ÿ Then it became RR 1?ÿ Then it became RR 1, Anywhere?ÿ 66001,?ÿ A bit later it became RR 1, Box 42A, Anywhere?ÿ 66001.?ÿ Then 23495 Shetland Road, Anywhere 66001-8345.?ÿ Soon Anywhere will lose it's post office resulting in the address being tied to a different city and zip code.?ÿ Without changing the physical location of the mail box.
Enough is enough.?ÿ Stop the merry-go-round, I want to gently lower one foot to the ground at a time as I dismount.
We trained our field crews to edit and map their data files. Made all the difference in their understanding of coding.?ÿ
@norm?ÿ
I've been down that road too.
If the training isn't provided, the SPFC/PFC/SPM/ETC ETC ETC Deserve the blowback and log jams they create by not imbuing and enforcing the process.
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A billion years ago when I was about 15 years old I had to put a tractor and two-wheeled implement from where it was into a box-shape outline with flags, without hitting any flags and while being timed.?ÿ No problem.?ÿ I had plenty of practice doing that at home.?ÿ The problem was they put me on a tractor made by a company that didn't match any of tractors.?ÿ The shifting pattern was ridiculous (in my opinion), the clutch and brake were adjusted differently from what I was accustomed to and the seat design made turning to look back much more difficult.?ÿ I did it, but it took forever.?ÿ Many of the other kids tasked with the same challenge did about the same as me.?ÿ Until.............. one kid had a nearly identical tractor at home.?ÿ He did it in about 20 percent of the time it took me.
Today, that tractor has been replaced with things called data collectors, etc., etc.?ÿ plus really weird stuff called software that no two companies seem to be able to make with the same procedures to do the same things.?ÿ Someone running John Deere stuff with XYZ software can become very adept at using it to the max.?ÿ Someone else running?ÿ Ford stuff with ZYX software can become very adept at using it to the max.?ÿ Have them switch equipment and software overnight and see who finally becomes adept first with the other system.?ÿ A common feeling in a case like that is pure ignorance.?ÿ You know what you need to do but must convert Greek to Latin to Russian to English to do it.
Well, damn!?ÿ Now, I'm expected to understand Japanese to be successful in the land surveying profession.
Hai, wakarimashite Jittysan
The shifting pattern was ridiculous (in my opinion)
Ford 8N:
R 4?ÿ 1
?ÿ ?ÿ 2 3
Weird, but it was cast into the top of the transmission for ready reference until you learned it. And you usually didn"t shift on the go, you just picked a gear and stayed with it.
The shifting pattern was ridiculous (in my opinion)
Ford 8N:
R 4?ÿ 1
?ÿ ?ÿ 2 3
Weird, but it was cast into the top of the transmission for ready reference until you learned it. And you usually didn"t shift on the go, you just picked a gear and stayed with it.
I'd say that gearbox configuration was specifically designed to stop shifting on the go.
