A good liberal arts education (which at most schools includes math and physics, ect...) provides a good background to build the specific understanding needed to be a successful professional.?ÿ
Concur, albeit with a strong personal bias for this career path.?ÿ?ÿ
Nothing wrong with a liberal arts degree. I have a BA in history and a BS in geomatics. I went back for the geomatics degree after nearly a decade of surveying.
Both degrees taught rational inquiry, how to perform research, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication skills, with the history degree being measurably more useful in those areas.
The geomatics degree was far more useful for all the day-to-day practice of land surveying, for both boundary and technical matters. I would absolutely swap some of the technical courses for more boundary law and liberal arts courses to get a better balance.
I had worked under eight different licensees across three firms before going back to school, and their boundary law instruction/mentorship was...spotty at best. Going back to school and getting the fuller picture of boundary law, then linking it up with what my individual mentors had taught (and were continuing to teach) me, was probably one of the best decisions I made in my career. Even with only 3-4 semesters.
I also gained a strong foundation in all the ancillary technical skills, not only because they are critical to the performance of boundary surveys, but also serve as a springboard to other areas of surveying practice.
Boundary surveys? Sure. Platting and subdivisions? Of course.
What about geodetic control surveys, settlement monitoring, photogrammetry support, laser scanning, GIS, heavy civil, construction staking? Yep, those too. Can't do some of those without at least some survey work, whether it requires a license or not. Just because boundary isn't involved doesn't mean it's useless, beneath us, or impossible for us to do.
