Let's try this one last time......

Posted by: @jitterboogie

Lay it on me......tell me why I shouldn't do it, and GO!!!!!.......

Because a nice, safe, warm and dry cubicle to crawl into and die in is what we all crave.?ÿ?ÿ

Do it! It'll be fun.

Initially licensure to me was a personal accomplishment thing.?ÿ At that time (B.C. ...before computers) licensed surveyors were like tree frogs..all over the place if you looked.?ÿ And they all were grand-fathered and freely admitted they stood no chance of passing an examination.?ÿ I just wanted to make a statement among my peers and prove something to myself.

And I never did well with indoor settings.?ÿ An old joke was that "ol' Paden wasn't house-trained".?ÿ Indoors (at that time) on a drafting table seemed like torture.?ÿ To this day I never really feel alive unless I'm breathing in the fresh air and hopping fences or digging a hole somewhere.?ÿ It's a Zen thing I think.?ÿ There's always a geometric puzzle of sorts to solve in what ever fashion the evidence allows.

Some of us are just cut-out for being a surveyor and some aren't.?ÿ It sounds like you've made your decision.?ÿ Consider it an elite ilk of individuals and respect your work, it will be worthwhile.?ÿ I have a hunch you won't be disappointed.?ÿ Good luck.

@gmpls

... they said.  🙂

Follow your dream.

You gotta love what you are doing or else you are supporting some other person's dream while they are living it.

Personally, I am fulfilled with the fact that I am solo and deciding where and what I want to do every day of the year, apart from those days SWMBO decides that for me as I am her willing subject.

0.02

Good choice. I made the jump a few years ago myself and am studying for the test now as well. But the GIS knowledge has definitely been useful for me in the surveying industry.?ÿBut I would never go back to full time GIS.. too much time spent in a cubicle like a stiff robot. Even on the days when we're dipping sewer manholes I don't regret the change!?ÿ

I pushed myself hard in 2006 to get licensed on the first try, it was do or die for me, though it wouldn't mean a penny more with the job I held at the time. Three months after getting word I'd passed another surveyor contacted me saying he'd heard through the grape vine I'd gotten my license and he was looking to retire and for someone to come in and take over for him. Would I consider??ÿ In a stroke I went from and hour plus commute each way to fifteen minutes and more than doubled my take home. Now I split my time 50/50 between the office and field and it's a good balance. Had I not pushed myself so hard back in 2006, that ship would have sailed right on by.

Posted by: @williwaw

I pushed myself hard in 2006 to get licensed on the first try, it was do or die for me, though it wouldn't mean a penny more with the job I held at the time. Three months after getting word I'd passed another surveyor contacted me saying he'd heard through the grape vine I'd gotten my license and he was looking to retire and for someone to come in and take over for him. Would I consider??ÿ In a stroke I went from and hour plus commute each way to fifteen minutes and more than doubled my take home. Now I split my time 50/50 between the office and field and it's a good balance. Had I not pushed myself so hard back in 2006, that ship would have sailed right on by.

One can only dream about what happened to you!?ÿ

@williwaw

Good for you, I hope you make a small (or large) fortune. I have absolutely no regrets jumping in over 30 years ago, the construction industry in Florida has been more than generous to me. But the business is now sold and the new head dude, well a dudette in this case, takes over 01/01/2020. Don't have a damn clue about what to do when jobless. ???? 

Posted by: @flga-pls-2-2

Don't have a damn clue about what to do when jobless.

1. ?ÿCongratulations!

2. ?ÿLooking forward to seeing where this journey takes you. ?ÿGlad that you like to read books. ?ÿIt is important to keep our minds & hands occupied.

@flga-pls-2-2

The gentleman I took over for when he retired hung up surveying entirely, didn't want a thing to do with it after a career that spanned longer than I'd been alive. He just said after so many years at it he was ready to do something else. His first year of retirement he built a large addition to his house himself and took up nature photography with a passion, lugging around a camera lens the size of a bazooka, fabricating camera tripods and mounts from his old survey gear. He's turned into quite an accomplished photographer and is very active at 78. He recently took a fall from a ladder hanging Christmas lights that left him with a bad concussion and a bunch of busted ribs. The climbing helmet he'd been wearing probably saved his life. So I guess the only advice I have is stay away from tall ladders and do what makes you happy.

@flga-pls-2-2

I can tell you what to do.  ANYTHING your wife wants (grin).  Seriously, travel, fish (you're in the spot for it), enjoy each other, and do what I've had so many "used to be" surveyors do.  Stop and ask them what they're doing and tell them how it used to be done.

Andy

@andy-bruner

ANYTHING I want to do gets vetoed by SWMBO. ???? 

Posted by: @brad-ott

Looking forward to seeing where this journey takes you

Hell Brad, according to Nuns many years ago, I was born on the road to perdition, no sense deviating now. 😉 ?ÿ

@flga-pls-2-2

Whatever SWMBO wants to do it's because she decided that's what I wanted to do.

Checking in:

I'm immersed in drafting line work, running the SX10, The R10s getting an R12, and wondering why i took so long to get back into this.?ÿ WOOHOO!