Howdy all,
Interesting article about the role of surveyors now and in the future at
http://mycoordinates.org/critical-developments-in-land-surveying/
No comments so far...
Has a paradigm shift already begun and it is not being recognized?
Good article. Kind of states the obvious to those that look around at what’s happening with profession.
From my perspective I see less people wanting to do surveying for a living, I see less respect for the surveying profession as a whole among the public, I see much less respect for the surveying profession from our number 1 partner in this business which is civil engineers. I see more surveying jobs done by non-surveyors,
I see less actual surveyors because of technology, I see our licensing boards less willing to make critical assessments of a surveyors skills, instead focusing on legal business practices as a determination of skill.
I see GPS and its false sense of measurement correctness destroying the aspect of measuring skill.
I started surveying at age 14, have done nothing else my whole life, am licensed, have a successful Land Surveying business and love the profession.
Because of what is obviously happening to the profession and the direction I see it going, I will definitely recommend to my children that they do not follow in my footsteps.
I was the future of my profession, and apparently still am judging by the average age of the collection of licensed professionals I saw at the continuing education seminar I attended two weeks ago.
Surveying has no driving force to have a future as a profession when it cannot provide: a competitive salary, a retirement plan, decent & affordable health insurance for young families, a reasonable amount of vacation, and reasonably modern tools to perform the work your company was contracted by your client to do. If I want to work for peanuts, I can get a job with 100% less personal liability, with better health insurance benefits, a 401k match, and with modern tools to do my job across town in a career that requires no college degree.
When I graduated college and got into surveying, I had no problem finding a small surveying firm to work for that offered all the things I just listed. Those were the incentives I was looking for when I got out of college and started my career. The mentality of a young professional fresh out of school hasn't changed! Attracting young, bright minds to our profession requires incentives. I can't in good conscience get up in front of a room full of high school students and suggest they persue an $80k degree in surveying. Why you ask? Because the alternative professions offer a better return on investment (ROI). Get a degree in Civil Engineering, or Environmental Engineering and get a P.E. to go after your name. Take your math skills and become a licensed Structural Engineer. We've got enough crumbling infrastructure in America to keep all three of those professions busy for years to come.
Feel free to throw stones at me, but ask yourself what incentives your profession and your company have to attract the best and brightest graduating senior from the class of graduating seniors due out of college next month with a degree in surveying?
