from the PA application form:
"1. Applicants must show at least 4 years of PROGRESSIVE experience gained under the supervision of a licensed
Professional Land Surveyor, AFTER the issue date of the SIT certificate."
So in NJ they did not have this requirement. I took the FS, got my SIT and 6 months later took the PS and got my PLS based on my years of experience as required in NJ. At that time I left that job and went to run the surveying department for an engineering firm. (I was the only surveyor). Then I left that salary job where I worked 50-60 hours a week and went to another engineering firm. Within about 3 months they fired the supervising surveyor and gave me all his work to do (without a raise or anything). I decided that working at an engineering firm was not going to work for me. Now I work for a construction company that allows me to run my own professional consulting business. I was only "supervised" for maybe 8 months total over the last few years after having passed the FS exam. I'm thinking maybe this requirement isn't as strict if you already have a license somewhere else...
I've got you beat. Maryland has a licensure path that allows you to skip the FS and go straight to the PS & State exams with twelve years of experience. However every other state I looked into requires a passing score on both the FS & PS as part of their comity application process. So I went back and took the FS in Maryland four years after I was licensed. o.O
I'd apply anyway. That is probably intended for someone that is not licensed already. At the least, contact their board and inquire.
Greg
Most States I am familiar with are way different for Comity than first license. If your license was acquired in substantially the manner required (in the new State) at the time you're probably OK. Like other said, apply. You may get a pleasant surprise...
James Fleming, post: 322213, member: 136 wrote: I've got you beat. Maryland has a licensure path that allows you to skip the FS and go straight to the PS & State exams with twelve years of experience. However every other state I looked into requires a passing score on both the FS & PS as part of their comity application process. So I went back and took the FS in Maryland four years after I was licensed. o.O
You actually had to do that? That'd be like if I had to dissolve my company, change jobs and go work under another surveyor for a few years.....I think I'd rather just stick to the east side of the Delaware River if that were the case...
Sounds like you have been working under the direction of a licensed surveyor ... yourself.
Talk to the office people handling registration. They surely get similar calls every week.
6 months as an LSIT under a PLS, plus 3.5 years experience as a PLS under a PLS (yourself) and you are good to go. What you need are references that are familiar with your work, not necessarily supervising your work. Since you already have taken the PLS you only need to take the 2 hour PA part. Be prepared for stormwater questions. BTW, they will want that experience to be boundary line experience, office and field. Any engineering surveying does not count for much.
I had many many years of engineering surveys, more than 5 years of subdivision office experience, but it took me 5 years to fill out the 25% field boundary line experience portion.
James Fleming, have you read the PA law, they reset your experience clock to zero after you take the FS.
Paul in PA
I do construction surveying for the construction company I work for during the week, but my own business is primarily boundary surveying and/or topo for engineering design. Usually I get vacant land surveys or title transfer surveys. I think my PE experience should make the stormwater stuff pretty reasonable. My LSIT was issued exactly 4 years ago so I guess I'm ready to apply.
James Fleming, post: 322213, member: 136 wrote: I've got you beat. Maryland has a licensure path that allows you to skip the FS and go straight to the PS & State exams with twelve years of experience. However every other state I looked into requires a passing score on both the FS & PS as part of their comity application process. So I went back and took the FS in Maryland four years after I was licensed. o.O
My boss is licensed in 7 states, but he's never taken the PS.
About 6 years ago he tried to get licensed in Louisiana. They told him he had to take that test.
I thought it was the norm to wait four years between FS and PS but then I went the education route and took the FS (LSIT back then) spring term of my final year. After looking up Oregon's rule, it does not specify the time split so either things have changed in the last couple of decades or my steel trap mind is slowly turning into a sieve. I do know that when I applied for Washington they counted only specific parts of my post LSIT experience when calculating the four years.
That said, I would apply. Most states I have applied for by comity the jurisdiction that issued the certificate of registration must have had substantially equivalent requirements for registration as the new state had at the time the other jurisdiction issued the certificate of registration.