My philosophy is to do your level best to be fearless in taking on challenges you might feel you're not ready for. It's been my experience that opportunities are often disguised to make them less than appealing and the fear of failure makes us pass them up. Being that are you are still fairly new to the profession, you're in a position where there really is no failure because even if you make a hash of things, you will carry away valuable lessons that will make you more likely to succeed the next go around. Never over-sell yourself, but when asked if you can do something, say Yes! (Usually followed u[ by, "how the freakin' heck am I going to pull this off?"). If you bet on yourself and you have the determination, you'll succeed at whatever gets thrown your way. Iron when treated with heat and pounding, makes a fine sword. If you can master both the field and office side of this profession, you'll be a valuable asset anywhere you go. If you play it safe and never push beyond your comfort zone, likely you'll go nowhere. Good luck!
It's really only a question that you can answer.?ÿ My advice is to go for it.?ÿ There are a lot of surveyors in the world with a lot of grey hair and someone needs to take over when they can finally afford to retire.?ÿ You can get a faster ride to a higher rate by learning the office side of it now.?ÿ You can always retreat if its not your thing but it sounds you have the aptitude for the work so learn as much as you can.?ÿ
"If you want to be a bitter, lifelong hub pounder just read this thread over and over. Never take a risk and never, ever push yourself. You will risk making money for someone else and imroving your position in life."
Bazinga.
PS: ?ÿBeerLegJohnson?ÿ Go see if you can accept that original offer before you get a pink slip. However I think you already screwed yourself.
I got moved into the office several months ago and while it is definitely a great learning experience I think it's also terribly unhealthy.?ÿ Humans aren't meant to sit around this much.?ÿ Speaking for myself I can already tell it has affected my mood and energy level, and while I'm not chomping at the bit to be out doing backbreaking labor I am looking forward to getting back outside a couple days a week walking around and getting some sun.
Anyway, the moral of the story here is there is more to it than stacking up knowledge and making yourself as indispensable as possible.?ÿ If you aren't happy and healthy then none of the rest matters.
You can't be a good chainman till you've been an instrument man and you can't be a good instrument man until you've been a chainman.?ÿ ?ÿSame thing applies to all the other positions.
Learning the other end of things will benefit?ÿ you and make you a better surveyor.?ÿ Getting an understaing of how the operation works in the field and the office is a great opportunity and to me says either your employer is desperate or they really see some great potential in you.
If you go into the office full time get a gym membership.....?ÿ I'm now the bearded six month pregnant girl in the office ???????????????ÿ
As yet there has been no mention of money in this thread.?ÿ I think that moving into the office and learning more about how the other half lives will make you a better field hand. Your boss apparently thinks you are ready. But will he back that up with a boost in pay, or are you just a stop gap solution to a current problem?
Your entry level trial period is coming to a close. Time to start thinking about how your career goes over the next 10 years or so to licensure, and beyond. Is the company going to support that in tangible ways??ÿ
NW. Staker's advice about a gym membership is solid. You need to make enough extra money to pay for the dues and the hour and a half a day you spend there.
Finally, the office is not a prison. There are ways you can work out getting into the filed at least part of the time. Jobs sometimes need a third person on them.?ÿ?ÿ
As yet there has been no mention of money in this thread.
I'm all ears.?ÿ What's average for a party chief??ÿ LSIT??ÿ PLS?
As an employer, I love to have someone that seeks added responsibility.
Give me someone that doesn??t mind being uncomfortable and maybe making mistakes along the way over a satisfied employee any day.
On a side note...if I had to be stuck in the office all day, I??d sell out and go work somewhere else.
Simply moving from the field to the office doesn't inherently mean you are worth more...
From a 30,000' level it may feel like more responsibility while in reality at ground level it is less or the same responsibility just packaged differently.
Simply moving from the field to the office doesn't inherently mean you are worth more...
Really??ÿ You can now do 2 things instead of 1.?ÿ If that isn't worth something then why bother learning anything new at all?
Yeah, really! Just because you're sitting in an office chair instead of behind a gun doesn't mean your value to the company changes. The office side takes training too and until you've learned that side of things you can't actually "do 2 things instead of 1". You're actually only doing zero things instead of 1. The learning phase is the cost of admission, whether it's indoors or out.
True, just changing seats makes no difference. But a person isn't asked to change seats in this way until he has proven his worth. Such a move deserves more pay, IMO.
If the OP takes the new position and fails at it, which is a possibility, he doesn't likely go back to his old comfortable job. He gets fired. So there is risk involved. Taking that risk deserves more pay, IMO.
If the OP is to take on a leadership role he needs to be making more money than the people he is in charge of. Without that it will be more difficult for him to maintain their respect. Of course, there are many other things he will have to do also, but the money thing is tough to overcome. BTW, in my experience, everybody in an organization gets a pretty good idea what everybody else is making before long, in one way or another.?ÿ
The learning phase is the cost of admission, whether it's indoors or out.?ÿ?ÿ?ÿ
I think companies with that attitude are the ones who routinely have their employees poached.
I'd ask for 3 days in the field and 2 in the office learning everything you can and building your career fast.
Exactly my idea. Make the office days fixed and let everyone know you're available these days at the office. Make an out of office answer for your mailbox when you're in the field and take only the important phone calls when in the field (Boss & Wife).
Clean up you're mailbox every evening, delete where you have no action to take and already forward as much as possible.?ÿ
For the office days only plan 4hrs/day for your own work, the other 4 will be filled for you before you realize.
That worked for me so far.
Enjoy!?ÿ
