Pipeline Surveyor???

A few in the past have suggested I go do that. A couple have tried to hire me as well. Not knowing what it was about either I asked the guy I was working for. He said in his experience was it was great for young single guys with no life outside of work.
My offers were going to be running solo with a robot everyday, all day. Basically, I'm my own party chief. Mostly stakeout with some cross-sections here and there. The ROWs and easements would have been taken care by then. They would supply the equipment, cell phone and a truck and some decent per-diem. I was expected to cover some amount of distance every day - weather permitting. I was also told I could just eat crackers, sleep in the truck and pocket the per-diem and forget the motels if I wanted. I started getting the picture - that's a job for a kid half my age and I'm "too old for that sh..t".

Not worked up in the dakotas or in the mid-east, but we did a lot of work for Colonial Pipeline back in the 80-90's. Long runs of crosssections/topos/boundarys for prelim work gathering information for the engineers to design the layout and preparing easement documents. Then Layout of the line itself, which for us consisted simply of bend points, stationing, benchmarks. Then Asbuilt information locating the line itself, every pipejoint which was numbered, inspected, surveyed, documented to the hilt, every valve, every test connection, etc. And asbuilt drawings generated. It is much like any other route surveying. You have the difficulty of terrain or working down inside pipeline cuts. My involvement at the time was primarily in supervision and drawing preparation. I was supervisor and had field crews doing the field work. I worked closely with contacts at Colonial pipeline in both their engineering groups and real estate folks.

I have been working in this (and power lines) for three years. The best advice I can give is to get all of the information about the project as you can, and what phase of work you will be doing. I am currently working laying out a pipeline in West Virginia. It is a lot of walking and a lot of cutting through briars, and we are expected to basically choose the route of the pipeline. We are using mapping grade GPS, which is frustrating because of the inaccuracy, but it is usually the best that we can use. I have also worked on as-built in Utah/Nevada using R8 GPS. This was often a lot of hurry up and wait. We could sit in the truck for a few hours waiting for a weld to be completed, then be rushed to locate the pipe quickly and accurately so that it can be immediately buried behind us. I have also worked doing a line topo with a total station and traverse through mountains in New Jersey. Again, this was lots of walking and lugging equipment.
Often, you are working six ten to twelve hour days a week, away from home. You can either be living in a hotel, or trying to find a place willing to rent to you month-to-month, as you rarely, if ever, know when you will be moving along.
Ask a lot of questions, and make sure that it is something that you want to do. Or try it out if you are unemployed, looking to see the country and some cool sights, and meeting some interesting people.
Sorry for the wordy reply, I've just seen a lot of people on here asking about the field.

I am a surveyor not allergic to walking. Most of the
pipeline companies or owners saw great value in having
an ATV four wheeler with an equipment rack.

What part of WV are you working in right now?

Across north central WV.

Seems to be quite a bit of gas related activity in that area of WV and north into PA. I just applied to PA to take their state exam.

Good luck with that. They are still "reviewing" my application to sit for the fall exam (which was 2 weeks ago). This is a reciprocity application by the way as I am licensed in WV.

Also, while I have your attention, my company is looking for some experienced field people for Wetzel and Doddridge Counties in WV for some pipeline surveying. If you know of anyone, please send me a line.