Do I have a chance to enter profession? (40+)

Maybe a tad young?

warren ward PLS CO OK, post: 435980, member: 12536 wrote: I would say that you have all the right qualities to get started, being in the 40's is a good thing

I worked at a lot of different jobs before I stumbled into Land Surveying, I knew within a week that Surveying was what I was meant to do. Check around for a Continuing Education class on Field Procedures and Corner Recovery, if you can find one close by attend and you should get an idea of what to expect

Hello Lightrange,
I made a career change to surveying at the age of 55. My previous career was in building construction so I had some familiarity with the instruments.
I decided to work a few years before going to school.

There are a few states that still allow you to take the exams with experience only or with any 4 year degree plus 4 or more years of experience. It would also be useful to know whether you wanted to survey in metes and bounds states or the PLSS states.

Which ever route you take I highly encourage you to seek out a position in your area before making a decision. With that said do not be discouraged. This is a great profession and your age and gender should not deter you.

If you are willing to travel, I believe there are many opportunities now, for rodmen doing pipeline work.

Welcome, Lightrange! I would say that just on your skills and history, you'd probably be able to get a job right away as long as the area you are in isn't an economic and/or social backwater. I would rather do that then go for training first. Make sure it's for you. If you spend a lot of time in school (and money) most places will want you behind a computer pretty fast . It's the nature of the biz.

Would you wish to locate to Ontario Canada ?

Please do look to this AOLS link : http://www.aols.org/join/membership

Any way I can help you, do not be afraid of asking.

Cheers,

Derek

I was in my 40's when I started taking surveying courses (paid for by the surveying company I was then drawing for). I have a four-year degree in math and CS and a two-year degree in surveying (which took more than two years, because of other courses like anthropology which one has to take, and because I was also drawing surveys). North Carolina did not then require a four-year degree, but there is talk in or with the legislature about it; some other states do require a four-year degree.

I'm a native trilingual, my website is bilingual, and my card is trilingual (the third language is a Hebrew Bible verse). If you advertise as a zemlemerka (sp and apologies if you're not a Slav), and there are others in your area who speak your language, you may get customers that other surveyors won't access.

As the underground rodent said, gopher it!

lightrange, post: 435878, member: 12864 wrote: Woods is where I'm usually found (without computers and GPS), in my free time.....
So, just contact a surveyor and say I want to try it out for few days, before I decide to go to school for it? I can sure try, just not sure they'd just take someone from the street, who's not an employee or intern ....(with all the fear of injury liability that is out there)

I have had many people "puppy dog" me for a day to see what it's like. Admittedly, most of them were younger. I think a lot of surveyors would be happy to show you what it's all about. Your age, gender and accent are non-issues in my mind.

It sounds like you have many of the right ingredients for the occupation. Nate's advice is good, test the waters and make sure.

Good luck

To quite Jobo Glidden and Joseph Campbell
"Follow your Bliss"

What else are you gonna do?
As for accents? Everyone has one.
People that have issues with anyone's accent are close minded xenophobic cretins. Stay away from them.

40 something isn't old.

"Do you think I might have a realistic chance of entering Land Surveyor profession, given I'm in my mid-40s and female, plus an immigrant (from Eastern Europe)?"

YES!

However your chances are better based on where you are now or where you are willing to go.

We have 50 states and several territories with various levels of educational program opportunities. Plus they have various levels of educational requirements and experience levels for licensure.

Your chances are best if you are in a state, close to a state or willing to move to a state that:

1/ Has a college or colleges that offer a 2 year Associate in Surveying.

2/ Allows a holder of an Associates in Surveying to take the fundamentals exam with no experience.

3/ Allows a holder of an Associates in Surveying to take the PLS exam with low level of experience.

4/ Has a college that offers evening, weekend or online classes. This can facilitate you earning a living while getting an education.

5/ Has a college that will accept a generous amount of your general college credits, allowing you to concentrate on surveying courses.

6/ If you seek to get an online education your chances are better if it is from an ABET accredited program. Some states exclude (in policy) non ABET courses, but with some effort you still may get approval.

Let me give an example, assume you are currently in New Jersey which is among the highest levels of requirements, a Bachelors in Surveying with at least 45 surveying credits and only one college, New Jersey Institute of Technology, offering a surveying program. Pennsylvania has 2 colleges and New York has 4 colleges offering an Associates in Surveying program.

You do not have to be a resident of a state to apply to a state, but a connection in that state helps, such as a degree from a college in that state or employment with a company in that state.

There a states where you could get a Bachelors in Surveying with as few as 30 surveying credits and Associates programs can vary from 20 to 30 credits. Several state only require a certificate in Surveying, equal to about 15 surveying credits, to sit for the exam. Pennsylvania gives a holder of a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with only 10 surveying credits an opportunity to take the fundamentals exam.

Having taken the fundamentals exam, the years of surveying experience required to sit for the PLS can vary with the type of degree from state to state. Some states only require the proper education to sit for the fundamentals and then consider you an LSIT. Other states require that you specifically apply to that state to be considered as an LSIT in that State. While you may have some surveying experience prior to taking the fundamental exam, some states such a Pennsylvania reset that clock to surveying and require the experience to occur at being considered an LSIT.

You will note that the final answer is not a simple yes. Let us start the conversation about you with where you are and give some idea of the course material from your computer degree.

Paul in PA

Nate The Surveyor, post: 435905, member: 291 wrote: Tell us where you might want to go,,, maybe somebody there has an opening...

I'm open to moving to a variety of states -- I had lived all over the country before. For a few recent years had been living on the West Coast/would want to move away, up North and be inland or in Alaska.

I. Ben Havin, post: 435923, member: 6834 wrote: Greetings lightrange,

If you have the determination to push through and get the Geomatics degree you may be setting yourself up to have a long and lucrative career in this industry.

First, thanks for all the encouraging replies -- wow, that's a lot of encouragement.
(not what I was facing when going for my BS in Computer Science, more of an opposite! But I went for it nevertheless).
Thanks for the tips, I'll be taking all into account.

By Geomatics degree, I assume you mean Associate's would be sufficient.
Associates would be fairly easy to get for me, since I can reuse all my general ed/science classes from the existing Bachelor's and just add the Geomatics courses that can I finish in a couple of semesters. I thought that even getting a certificate in Geomatics (same as Associates but without the general ed part) from the accredited college, such as a state community college, would suffice.

Peter Ehlert, post: 435904, member: 60 wrote: there are many variables, you got a great outline above.
I say Go For It.
20 years from now you don't want to be wishing you had gave it a shot.

Yes, this is something I wonder about a lot. I have some hard feelings about not going for Civil Engineering degree when I had a chance to, and doing CS instead. I guess at the end one got to go for what they really want to, and take some risk, and not what might be more convenient/safe at the moment.

FL/GA PLS., post: 435939, member: 379 wrote: With your current skills and especially you positive attitude you will succeed. My Vice President is a 46 year old female RPLS and has been with us for 28 years. I am currently in process of turning the business over to her. In my old eyes (66) you possess the same drive and attitude as her. 😎

Thanks! 🙂
Regarding having the drive... I did go through a lot of hardship to get my BS in Computer Science, which involved not being able to get housing sometimes, being in a big and expensive city back then.... (one day, my math professor had told me how he lived in a tent in the hills/woods throughout the whole time while he've been getting his PhD in Math, as he couldn't afford the rent, this is some drive...). My current work is a constant study... so fast paced (draining)--new technology every week, literally, as company invents proprietary tech- I especially welcome a chance to learn skills that won't be becoming obsolete within month or year, such as one I've been learning on a daily basis. I do have quite a bit of drive to be learning "Down to Earth" stuff.