The Next Generation

In conjunction with Nate's great idea below, I would like to share an article I wrote back in 2007 for our Association's newsletter. It was written just before I started my business. A lot has happened since then, and it needs to be updated. It is largely the rambling thoughts of a young surveyor planning on starting his own business, and both excited and scared at the same time.

The Next Generation
Jimmy Cleveland, RLS

I’ve been doing some reflecting on my surveying career lately and thinking back on the steps and progress that I have made through the years. I started on my journey in April 1995. Over the years since, I’ve learned a great deal about this profession, and it would not have been possible with out those experienced surveyors that were willing to share their knowledge and experiences with me. The dictionary defines a mentor as a wise and trusted counselor or teacher. I’ve been very fortunate to have many great mentors in my career.

I have been blessed to have always known what I wanted to do for a career. I have always wanted to be an “engineer”. Little did I know when I was young that Surveying would actually be my true calling. I graduated high school in 1992, and was heavily involved in the Industrial Arts program. I had several drafting classes during high school, and while working at a restaurant during the summer after high school, I met a project manager for a local company that produced wiring harnesses for fishing boats. He found out that I had some drafting background, and asked me to apply for a job with the company helping their designer with his drafting duties. I applied and got the job, and started to learn Autocad. I worked for a few other places during the next three years, until I found out about a local Civil Engineering and Land Surveying Firm. I made contact with the firm, and kept in contact with them, and about 18 months later, in April 1995, they had an opening and I got the job. This started my surveying career. Little did I know that it would become a large part of who I am today.

Surveying came naturally to me. I spent the next few years working on subdivision design and surveying projects during the day, and attending local technical college classes at night. My wife, Shannon, was wonderful during this time. She took care of the kids and the stuff around the house and allowed me to totally focus on my career and college. Without her support, I would not be where I am today. I am very lucky to have her by my side.

I was fortunate that the firm I worked for was small, and I got to play a big part of the entire design phase of a project. I learned a great deal by “trial by fire”, and in a short time. I graduated from State Technical Institute at Memphis in the summer of 1996 with an Associate of Applied Science in Civil/Construction Engineering Technology degree. I then started the International Correspondence School’s Survey and Mapping program and finished that program in July of 1998. I worked on many, many different projects with this firm until September 2000. It was very hard to leave this company. It was like I was leaving my family.

The next chapter in my surveying career was with a multi-disciplined larger engineering firm in Memphis. I worked on many different projects with this firm and learned a great deal about “big city” surveying. It was a totally different environment than what I was used to. It took a lot of adjusting to the faster pace of a large engineering company. I sat for and passed my licensing exams for the State of Tennessee and Arkansas during this time. I learned about the management aspects of a surveying department during my employment here. While I was working here, an opportunity presented itself that I thought would help make me a more well rounded surveyor, and help broaden my experiences. I spoke about the opportunity with my supervisor and friend about it. He, very unselfishly, told me point blank, that if the new opportunity would help me achieve my ultimate career goals than I should take it, and that if I didn’t, I would probably regret it. Looking back on that conversation, I realize how true that statement is. I later had the opportunity to share that very same statement with a fellow co-worker. I will forever be grateful to my friend for his honesty and unselfishness.

I worked there for about a year and a half, and then took a position with another large multi-disciplined engineering firm in April 2002. I sat for my licensing exam for Mississippi during this time. I worked on numerous types of boundary, topographic mapping, environmental, and design projects at this firm. I started to learn the robotic surveying and GPS surveying. I learned how utilizing technology and automation can help streamline a survey department. My supervisor here became one of my best friends, and I am very thankful for his patience and help.

In June 2004, an opportunity presented itself that would allow me to go back to the first company I worked for in my surveying career. The situation has the possibility of becoming a manager and possibly a partner in the firm in the future. I took the position, and currently have “project manager duties”. We are a small firm that everyone just does whatever it takes to get a project done. I run a two-man crew utilizing a robotic total station and GPS rtk equipment. I perform boundary surveys, topographic surveys, ALTA surveys, construction staking, etc., and work up my projects in the office.

I’ve rambled on long enough, and said all of that to get to a point. While I still consider myself a young surveyor, and still listen in awe to the three other registered surveyors in the office, two of who are also licensed engineers, I now find myself in the position of being a mentor. I just really dawned on me the other day. The young man that works on my crew is 23, and worked part time for another surveyor in the area part time until about a year ago. He’s been working with me full time for the past year. During the past year, I’ve taught him how to do many things, and he’s taught me many things as well. Before he started working with me, he had never put his hands on a robotic total station or GPS equipment. I have realized that with the technology that I have at my disposal, I have the opportunity to operate as a two-man crew, but be right there on the rod, where the decisions are made, with him. This is a tremendous advantage when you are able to explain why you have to locate a certain feature a certain way. I’m starting to see the process of teaching and learning repeat itself. For me, the young man on my crew asks questions, and I have to stay on my toes to answer them. He asks some really good questions, too! Sometimes I have to slow him down and answer his questions one by one, but he has good instincts, and will be a good surveyor one-day. He currently wants to get his license and is taking classes at the same college I attended, and is enrolled in the same degree program that I was. I do find it hard sometimes to slow down in today’s production oriented world, and take the time to really explain what I am doing and how I am calculating this and that, or why we do something a certain way. I’m starting to get him to take his calculator and work through some of the stuff I’m working on and then compare the answers. It’s a good check for me, and it’s teaching him how to do the calculations himself. Sometimes it might slow things down a little, but the time invested is invaluable.

I’ve spent many, many hours studying and learning about this great profession. I believe that being a surveyor take a unique individual. I’ve found that the time I’ve spent in this career has been rewarding. I’ve learned from textbooks, Internet resources, individuals, and TAPS. It’s really a combination of your experiences that make you the surveyor that you are. The mentoring process is so very important to any profession.

I would like to thank Don Cole, Bobby Dawson, Jimmy Breen, Pete Arney, Jay Caughman, Ken Beckwith, Mark Sorsby, Carl Heinrich, Bill Simon, and numerous others that have shared their knowledge of surveying with me. I only hope that I can share some of what you have taught me over the years. Thank you for your teaching and patience.