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Apprenticeship Programs
Earn while you learn. Apprenticeships are one of the oldest routes into surveying — paid, on-the-job crew work paired with classroom instruction, and usually no tuition to show for it. Most are run by a union joint apprenticeship committee (JAC), a few by a state surveying society or a registered training trust. For a lot of working surveyors, this is where the career started.
A survey technician (technical engineer) apprenticeship administered by the Alaska Teamster-Employer Service Training Trust — the state’s Teamster-model program, distinct from the operating-engineer JACs elsewhere. Trains apprentices for utility, road, building, mining, and pipeline survey work. Enrollment opens in periodic application windows.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s national registry of registered apprenticeship programs for surveying and mapping technicians (SOC 17-3031). A searchable, always-current directory of programs by state — the place to look for a registered surveying apprenticeship in any state not yet listed here individually.
A U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship run by Construction Forum in the St. Louis region, in partnership with civil engineering and surveying firms. A two-year program combining full-time paid employment with college-credit coursework through St. Louis Community College, funded so there is no cost to the apprentice.
Operating Engineers Local 150 trains and places construction surveyors across its territory — Northern Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa — through its Apprenticeship and Skill Improvement Program (ASIP). Paid, union-scale field work on highway and infrastructure projects, paired with skill and safety training at the union’s training centers.
Operating Engineers Local 701 trains technical engineers (surveyors) alongside heavy-equipment operators at its Canby, Oregon training center, serving Oregon and southwest Washington. A paid apprenticeship combining survey crew field work with classroom instruction.
The New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors runs a U.S. Department of Labor-registered apprenticeship pairing surveying firms with apprentices under licensed-PLS mentors. Two tracks — a two-year (4,000-hour) and a four-year (8,000-hour) path — with classroom instruction through Rowan University and NJIT. A rare example of a state surveying society, rather than a trade…
The surveyor apprenticeship of Operating Engineers Local 3 (OE3), covering its Northern California jurisdiction — a four-year, paid earn-while-you-learn program that advances apprentices through eight steps to Party Chief. Apprentices join survey crews while attending related classroom instruction. OE3’s broader territory also reaches Nevada, Utah, and Hawaii.
A registered Construction Site Surveyor/Technical Engineer apprenticeship run by the Operating Engineers Regional Training Program — the joint apprenticeship committee serving IUOE Locals 302 and 612 — based in Ellensburg, Washington. Paid, earn-while-you-learn survey crew work with related classroom and online instruction, advancing apprentices to journey-level technical engineer. https://careerbridge.wa.gov/learn/program/377
Southern California Surveyors Joint Apprenticeship Committee
(SC Survey JAC)
A labor-management surveying apprenticeship run jointly by IUOE Local 12 and the California-Nevada Civil Engineers and Land Surveyors Association, serving Southern California. Two paid, no-tuition tracks — a 6,000-hour Chainman program and an advanced Chief of Party program — with medical, pension, and GI Bill-approved training for veterans. Apprentices work on survey crews while completing…