> Why are you a land surveyor?
>
> 1. Money
> 2. Job is Fun
> 3. Perceived Social Status
> 4. I have no clue
> 5. Other
5.
My dad made me go to work at 12, at 19 got married needed a job and he needed a chief. I still need a job and I hate to not excel at something.
I started out doing it by accident and found out it paid well , and was full of adventure. Been doing it 26 years and I cant get out if I had to .
That's funny. I was fresh out of college with a B.S. in Geology from University of Montana, I moved to Colorado figuring that my job prospects would be better. The first want ads I looked in were in the Boulder Daily Camera and all it said was "Land Surveyor Wanted: work in the mountains, call xxx-xxxx". That was 13 years ago, went back to school, got licensed, never looked back.
The ability to work outside and inside using your mind as well as your body, is the tops for me. And, the money is pretty good too 😉
If this is a poll then can we assume you will tabulate the results and give us some statistics?
In high school I was bored stiff and almost flunking out, but I had a great geometry teacher Mrs Kachulis, I think. And I aced her class. Best grade in the class of 1500. Spring Vally , New York 1967.
A friend's brother, Pete Roffino, who was in engineering school hired us to help him survey on the weekends and summer. It was geometry and I loved it. He taught me to balance a traverse on a mechanical calculator, Marchant maybe. My first full time job was O.G. Aselin,in Spring Valley, where Bill Youngblood taught me a lot. I used the first Olivetti programmeable calculator in the county. I was still only 18.
1] Too lazy to work, too nervous to steal ?
2] @ age 5 my Grandfather needed someone warm and stupid to hold on the end of a chain when doing building ties ?
3]would have to play golf to be able to be outdoors writing numbers otherwise ?
Yes, my friend Kent ( & he is, I hope !) I still qualify under # 2
YOS
TNAI
Like Rocky said, "because I can't sing or dance"
Loved the outdoors and didn't want to fly a desk
I always looked up to surveyors because they are supposed to look for the truth and stand up for it, always seemed to me like surveyors are mostly an honest bunch relatively speaking, most I ever met insisted on things being done the right way.
Most I know would help just about anybody if they could..
[flash width=420 height=315] http://www.youtube.com/v/Q-a7KPmOnok?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0 [/flash]
It just seemed to be a natural profession to be in; maybe impressed with a couple of guys on a plane table on the ranch and they showed me their "drawing" and I could see how it related to the ground. And I was about 10 or so.
Land surveying is my life!
Keith
What impresses me is that your plan to become a land surveyor wasn't deterred by the Civil War.
😉
Don
2 and later 1. My introduction to land surveying was as a linecutter/rodman on the east side of the big island of Hawaii in 1997. Everyday seemed like an adventure: cutting property lines in the jungle, surveying along the seashore, and meeting some really interesting people. After working several years and becoming a party chief the financial benefits provided a comfortable living wage for the area. Especially after several years of biking between multiple part time jobs (paying on average $10/hour.) Fast forward to today, location has changed, salary has improved and the adventure has become more mental than physical.
Lack of foresight .................... 😀
Get to play in the outdoors without adult supervision.
Get to "see" back in time, stuff that others can walk right over and never realize.
Solving mysteries; a mixture of research, archeology, genealogy, woods savvy, legal landscape, and math in the woods.
We're Keepers of the Cadastral System; I take that responsibly seriously - it's up to us to safeguard land owner's property boundaries.
You are right!
😉
We're Keepers of the Cadastral System
Amen!
Circumstances. I started out as a Civil Engineer. I have always liked history, and when I started out with an engineering company with the survey crew using a transit and "chain" in 1980, I developed a keen interest in finding history on the ground and in the old courhouse records. I like mathematics: geometry and trigonometry, and "drawing" these shapes on the ground along with the fascination of finding old corners and creating land parcels and "footsteps" for posterity.
I just like surveying. I like the outdoors, except for the times of the year where we have extreme summertime hundred-degree heat and the days of rain in the winter. Two deer walked by my GPS station the other day. I came face-to-face with a garter snake about nose high on a tree limb one time. I have been up over my hip boots in sandy mud in 22 degree weather and wondered if I was going to have to spend the night. I have been startled by a covey of quail, a bedded deer, and turkey getting up literally under my feet. I had to duck one time when a red-tail hawk carrying a squirrel zoomed through where my head was. I have had to grab the instrument off the centerline of a highway to keep a blue-haired granny from mowing me down. I found an octagon-shaped gun barrel set for a section corner. I have experienced the satisfaction of my clients when I have finished with a project and turned over the paperwork to them after walking through what they spent their money on. I like a job well done and the satisfaction I get when my client is happy. I get a sense of accomplishment when I work hard to do things right and everything turns out well.
There are hard, difficult times, and there are easy, routine times. You just have to work hard and enjoy life along the way, and be good at what you do.
Started as 5 (Other).
Stayed for 2 (Job Is Fun).
Fortunately get 1 (Money) as a result.
How I started ties in with my comments on luck being a part of surveying from the financial future post earlier.
When planning for college, I procrastinated on some decisions and ended up relegated to spending my first year at community college. Good plan as all credits transferred and I saved some money.
When I went 'away', a couple of counties over, to college, I was initially signed up for a mechanical engineering program. During course selection at a summer orientation, I found out that the program was no longer offered (closed out the year before). Figuring I could always transfer credits again, I decided to change to a Civil Engineering Technology degree and at least get some more general requirements out of the way.
Here is where the luck comes in - I had my first surveying course that spring semester. slightly out of sequence. I was hooked. I decided to stick with the civil program and take all of the surveying courses I could. As luck would have it, I was in college at just the right time for the surveying instructor to put together a number of courses that had not been offered before. Luckily, there were several people interested and we were able to take those course. Luckily, that same instructor put together a series of courses for graduate work as well. If it had not been for an odd series of events, I might have never known about surveying as a possible profession.
We get to work with some pretty high tech tools, do some very interesting problem solving, put some challenging land puzzles together, get outdoors for some fresh air and exercise, spend time inside analyzing data and working our brain, and produce a piece of artwork as a deliverable. What's not to like about that!
Sometimes, the heat gets rough in the summer or the cold gets brutal in the winter and I'm not at all fond of mosquitoes or ticks. But I can think of nothing I would rather do at this point.
My Uncle was a union organizer and he used to check the unemployment office frequently. One day he told me about a Cadastral Surveyor who was looking for a couple of aids. I went and applied, got the job and started field work immediately. It fit in with what I love, the outdoors and the freedom to explore.l
I was always excellent in math and this gave me an opportunity to apply my knowledge base. My second assignment was Jackson Hole Wyoming and that just sealed my desires to stay in that type of work. It lasted for 40+ years. Even ended up doing mapping in Libya while in the Army, and that was something I couldn't have asked for a better assignment.
The history of the Public Land Survey System has been one of my loves. But not more than my Wife or Children.
Great dissertation, Harold
You ARE a surveyor.
5.) To find original evidence! And anything else that gets in my way!!
Boo yah! 1870 David P. Thompson "1/32" corner (in roman numerals), set by the 3-mile method in anticipation for allotments. This = E-W 1/64th corner to sections 12 & 13!
Too bad the fence got there first!! I will get my virgin!!!
> Get to play in the outdoors without adult supervision.
You hit the nail head on!!!