Hello all,
What would you say are some good first steps when trying to start to learn the office/software side of surveying?
?ÿ
the companies I??ve work/worked for use autocad/civil 3d from what I??ve seen.?ÿ
Should I purchase autocad and start trying to draw up on my own?
take a class at local college?
God willing, I have many more years in the field yet, but I want to get familiar with the other side.?ÿ
Where did you, or where would you start with the software/office side?
?ÿ
apologies if this isn??t specific enough. I??ve been needing a new computer for a year, and I??m wondering if I should set myself up and where to start.
?ÿ
A license for AutoCAD won't be cheap.?ÿ I would approach your current employer and tell them that you are wanting to expand your knowledge base.?ÿ Ask them if you could check a license out after working hours on a laptop and run through some of the tutorials.?ÿ Also see if your local community college has any evening classes.?ÿ Your employer may be willing to reimburse you for the tuition once you pass the course.
It would depend on where you are now, in terms of education & training. Are you purely an on-the-job learner, or do you already have formal coursework in surveying? When I wanted to move from the field to the office, I took an evening adult education course in AutoCAD at a nearby tech school, so that I could learn the basics of the software. I already had a degree in surveying, so it was an easy jump from learning CAD basics to using the surveying software that was added on to it. If you haven't got formal surveying education, you might want to take a few classes in Plane Surveying, Legal Aspects, Adjustment Computations, etc. in addition to learning CAD / Civil 3D. There are on-line courses available now, so you don't have to work or live close to a school offering these classes. Will your company help pay for the courses as part of your benefits package?
FWIW, there is a student version of AutoCad?ÿ https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview?sorting=featured&filters=individual
?ÿ
I just went through a 3.5 year ??chainman?apprenticeship program.?ÿ
I??ve worked the same amount in the field.
?ÿ
I have my LSIT, but no pure college surveying courses.?ÿ
Im not sure if my company would pay for anything. I just started last week with them. I??ve been thinking about the autocad/computer stuff for the past year or so, but I??ve had to get other things out of the way first. Now I??m free to focus on other pursuits
I just went through a 3.5 year ??chainman?apprenticeship program.?ÿ
I??ve worked the same amount in the field.
?ÿ
I have my LSIT, but no pure college surveying courses.?ÿ
Im not sure if my company would pay for anything. I just started last week with them. I??ve been thinking about the autocad/computer stuff for the past year or so, but I??ve had to get other things out of the way first. Now I??m free to pursue such things?ÿ
Having your LSIT means you have a firm grip on the background mathematics. Taking a CAD training course would be good first step. A CAD drawing is basically a database. Learn how a CAD drawing is structured, and how to do the basic manipulations for drafting within a drawing. Then move on to using the software for surveying calcs, processing data, building surface models, etc. Also, you could talk to your employer about getting training doing deed research on-the-job. I don't know of any courses that can truly teach that skill.
?ÿ
Take any and all the CAD classes you can to get familiar with the programs. That will give you the foundation and something to build on. It's a sort of learning to walk before you go trying to run a race.
When I took some classes the text was "AutoCAD and its Applications - Basic".?ÿ The class went through the book page by page. You could do that without the class.?ÿ There are other books on basic CAD drawing.
Plenty of stuff on Youtube to help you get started.
You could spend a half hour on some workstation after its assigned user leaves for the day if you can't borrow a laptop, etc. Start with drawing some basic lines and circles and work up. Your company's users will be a resource to ask questions of.?ÿ?ÿ
Just get started and let it snowball. I started learning CAD just a couple weeks into my survey career and within a month I was doing useful work. Granted, 33 years later I'm doing quite a lot more, but you have to start at the beginning.
?ÿ
I second the CAD classes, or at the very least get a student license and run through the survey tutorials. I cannot stress enough that the only way to really level up on CAD is to get a hold of some real-world data and play with it using the techniques taught in the tutorials.
(Google, closely followed by this site, will be your BFF for learning CAD. I've been doing CAD since ~2006 and I still search Google for random questions, helpful hints, and LISP routines.)
?ÿ
Also, you could talk to your employer about getting training doing deed research on-the-job. I don't know of any courses that can truly teach that skill.
Very much agree. If you can find someone to mentor you on boundary analysis, reading/writing legal descriptions (not as easy as some would have you believe), and the finer points of deed calculations, that's a big deal.
Something else that you can read up on yourself, that gets blown off by a lot of newer (and older I guess) surveyors, is geodesy and map projections. And there are a ton of resources for that. The NGS has a bottomless pit of presentations, publications, and webinars about state plane coordinate systems, geodesy/projections, and datums. Don't forget NAD83 and NVD88 are going away in a couple of years, so knowing the fundamentals of horizontal and vertical systems will be a huge benefit.
On the more advanced side, I would also look into learning all you can about GNSS collection methods and processing, statistics and least squares adjustments.
that??s helpful, thank you?ÿ
My work schedule puts me at 12-3 hours out of the house everyday, so there??s no time to work in the office afterwards (they??d be closed).
So ideally I??d like to follow the book you mentioned on my own computer at home. Will have to see how much that??d cost to get started up
If you go the self learning route, you might consider a copy of AutoCAD LT or (depending on your budget) a copy of Carlson Survey.?ÿ A quick search shows pricing of around $800 for LT and $2000 for Carlson.?ÿ Depending on where you live in relation to a nearby university or community college offering CAD classes (or which online option you might consider), this might not be too bad of an investment to start with.?ÿ If you can swing it, I would go with the Carlson Survey in order to have the survey functions to work with as well - that gets you beyond CAD basics, but would be a more long term learning investment.?ÿ As Rover 83 says, Google is your friend in this method.?ÿ There are hours upon hours of online beginning tutorials.?ÿ I believe I've even seen some professors that you would be taking in the formal setting posting their entire course content online for access.
If you decide to go the formal class route at a university, AutoDesk offers a free student access version that allows students to work on their own computers at home.?ÿ I've forgotten what the limitations are on the student access version.?ÿ It might have just been print size or some kind of water mark.
I like the idea of online cad class, possibly geared toward surveying.
All I??d need is a new laptop and I can get a student copy of the program.?ÿ
will have to search around for a decent online school.?ÿ
Depending on what state(s) you decide to get licensed in, your options might be limited to ABET degrees and or augmentation and bolstering of classes from an ABET program that the board will have to approve....
So I'd say don't just take a random Cad class unless it's getting you credit for a board review, learning is always great but it's even better when your credit and experience can help nail down the ticket to practice.
?ÿ
just my $0.02
?ÿ
and for a $0.05 deposit....
if you can find a super user and surveyor and engineer dual license, who will Imbue you with the decades of knowledge they suffered through so you don't have to flounder painfully, I encourage that too.
?ÿ
and as anyone can attest to, there's no learning everything that C3D can do...it's the ultimate onion of all
the layers and features and possibilities are endless.
dive in, the water is perfect.
?ÿ
?ÿ
?ÿ
good call on the ABET class.
Im in California currently, have my LSIT but only an associate degree in Science.
that??s enough with a few more years experience to sit?ÿ
But I may be moving back to Michigan in the next 5 years, where they require a bachelors degree in survey related curriculum,?ÿ
I dread the thought of going back to college for licensing. but I may as well align myself to earn credit toward that now.
thanks for the heads up
?ÿ
i also just walked away from a job where I could potentially have gotten that mentorship from the LS/CE. It??s not something that was brought up until I talked about leaving. So I??m not sure how much that would??ve materialized anyway.
but I was not learning anything new in the field, and things were very sloppy there. Was getting used and abused as well. Chief was not willing to teach.
I switched to learn better and more diverse field practices, and I hope I didn??t make the wrong decision for my long term benefit
I shelled out the $ for a Carlson license (on Intellicad to save on the cost) and am working through tutorials. ?ÿ
Started by working through a used AutoCAD book I got on line for the very basic CAD stuff.
Now working through the tutorial book ??A Practical Guide to Carlson Software? and will go on to ??A Practical Guide to Carlson Survey?. ?ÿ The license I work under is a Carlson user so I went the Carlson route. ?ÿ
?ÿ https://www.carlsonsurveysupply.com/product/carlson-manuals/
