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Trying to decide what to do
Posted by laser16208 on April 1, 2022 at 11:48 pmHey everyone, I recently interviewed for a new position that offered me a substantial pay increase. My background consist of 1 year of performing as a survey tech using primarily robotics in large construction surveys(stakeout, utilities, highway, and building layout). I then spent one year as a Survey crew leader (ie Party Chief) doing the same work. I left that company to go work for a very small survey firm that focuses on mortgages, boundary, line staking, house location and foundation. We use a manual instrument and I took the job to get experience as a traditional instrument operator, turning angles and such. This company will eventually promote me to run my own 2 man crew, just not sure when.
The new job would put me back in construction working solo with a robot. The schedule is flexible with plenty of available hours, my own truck, and about a 33% pay increase.
I??m torn with this decision because obviously, more money, no driving to an office, and having my own truck would be great. However, I like the challenges that come with boundary surveys, solving some of the mystery??s that comes with identifying property, and performing some computations in the field. If I had at least one year of running my own crew in this type of work I??d be less conflicted but I haven??t really had the chance to solidify this experience I??ve gained through my own approach in leading the crew.
So, I??m looking for some sage advice. Do I make the money while the gettin is good? I will certainly learn more about construction surveying. Or do I hold out with the small firm and get more experience working with metes and bounds and small residential work?
Thanks for your input.
laser16208 replied 2 years ago 17 Members · 21 Replies- 21 Replies
Follow the money.
I would check with your state licensing board to see if construction surveying counts towards taking the exam. If not you will be wasting your time assuming you want to become licensed.
You must do what works best for you, not what might work best for someone else.
1. What is your goal for five years or ten years from now?
2. Are you physically where you want to be working for years to come or would somewhere else be better?
3. Are you currently deep in debt?
4. Do you want to obtain enough education, mentorship and experience to become a licensed land surveyor?
5. Do you feel comfortable making construction staking decisions that could cost your firm a bundle if you make a mistake?
6. Have you grown to truly enjoy boundary survey work, including the research and legal side?
7. Will you have time for your family (assuming you have one) if you choose one over the other?
8. Remember, happy spouse, happy house. Pay attention to what will help you be able to do your job.
9. Is a 33.3 percent pay increase putting you above the normal pay for someone else doing this particular job (coming in at the top) or will you still have potential increases without making a major move?
10. Keep track of who you are and where you are on your goals list. Mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, geographically, educationally, professionally and socially.
@holy cow has stated some very wise advice. That list was full if wisdom. I started out many years ago and ended up going a different route so I am not licensed yet. But i am at a place that money is not a driving force. Period. I work for less than I made 20 plus years ago in private sector. But I have chosen to get my boundary resolution skills up and back going so I can be licensed. You take that list and write it down and write beside it your goals. Ponder think. Look at the big picture down the road. Of where you want to be. Trust me. If you want to make big money and thats your driving force then go for it. But if your in a place you enjoy and are learning and live within your financial means stay. Someone will always pay you more. Always. I see you are already wise to even look for advice I believe you will make a great decision for you and your career.
I once made a major career decision because of my spouse. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t. I’ll never know because one can’t know for certain how things would have worked out by taking the other path at the fork in the road.
Not sure how this works at your side, but here in Belgium I would discuss this also in an open talk with my employer. Let them know how you feel about the offer and the career path you have in mind. That works here in the long run.
don??t burn your bridges and succes with whatever choice you will make.
Regardless of which path you persue in the future become registered first then decide. In my experience construction surveying was about 75-150% more profitable per hour than boundary work. ????
There is money to be made both ways. As many have said, you need to consider what you want to do now and later. Don’t forget to add what you might HAVE to do later.
I am no longer physically able to pound stakes 60 hours a week. It is my good fortune I made the pivot to the professional route when I did. My top billable rate is now double the typical two-man crew. The dry cleaning bill is worth it. I still hit the field but not as often or long.
At the end of the day it’s about who will invest in you. The boundary shop is only good experience if they do good work, provide mentoring, and support your growth. The big money guys are usually only good while the economy is steaming along.
Finally, the spouse part. She is half of you. Not the leader, not the follower. Half. Pencil it out together with real numbers and personal goals on paper. Then work your butt off to make your joint decision work.
Best of luck, Tom
I actually prefer a variety of work including both construction and boundary and both in the field and in the office. If I were to do one or the other 100% of the time I’m almost positive I wouldn’t be happy. So, I guess my first question if I were you would be to think about what I enjoy doing the most. While money is always nice it probably won’t smooth over doing work that you don’t particularly enjoy.
Knowing what I know today, I would stick with boundary until you got a license if thats what you want. A technician is a valuable and solid career. after the license, go to construction for the money.here’s why:
Since I became licensed, I have had pretty much zero respect from any landowner and most surveyors, since 1989. It gets old after a few decades. lack of respect means you spend a LOT of time not getting paid, being told by landowners that what you did didn’t deserve your bill, other surveyors arguing over trifles, and worse, telling your client that your survey is worse then theirs, and many times why they don’t accept your monument because their survey is “better” blah blah blah.
I have always enjoyed construction – even with a few really frustrating episodes. I became solo when my crewchief left in the middle of a large construction job – and my life went to misery for quite awhile. then I discovered I actually liked the construction BETTER as solo. It is a great source of pride and as long as you show up when needed and do things correctly, or fix your errors quickly, even the construction workers appreciate what you do and it all goes better than begging landowners, each and every one year after year, for payment according to the signed contract, despite their assurance that I didn’t do what THEY watned my to do. Boundary is extremely interesting and rewarding, but I wish I had started solo construction and focused on that years before I did
Do what you want. That’s the only advice I could give.
You need to decide which career path you want, regardless of the money. And then decide if the money of one overrides the desire to do the other. Good luck
Focus on getting licensed. Down the road that will provide far more opportunities for you when your body doesn??t spring back like it did when you were 20. What paid off for me was getting proficient in both the office and field. When you can operate productively in both worlds, you have more variety in your day, which is what helps keep life more enjoyable.
WillyDon’t chase money unless you’ve got long term time on your side.
I Chose to take a huge pay cut to get back into the license pathway, and I was fortunate to have the financial ability to do so.
if I was 30 years younger I’d chase money, knowing that the field would eventually eat me up esp if mostly construction or highway.
I’m still in the groove and looking for another mentored opportunity for legal and boundary work.
I saw a robot on a LinkedIn post marking and staking a highway for construction. Pounding 10000 rebar for control isn’t going to gain anything for the FS or the PLS exams.
That is is the future for non licensed survey crews and I am doing my best to stay ahead of that curve.
There will always be a need for field crews, but the range of duties and pay will be at the whim of technology and risk management decisions.
Best is the confluence of money and mentoring, not impossible but often takes a few jumps to find the right situation. No place is perfect, but there are real tangible differences in companies who truly care about professional development, and lots the just jaw on with false promises and empty fulfillment of those.
IMNSHO.
Good luck!
Another thing to consider is that builders usually require licensed surveyors to at least own the company they hire. (Builders can’t sue technicians )
I would point out that I was a semi pro musician for 45 years while a surveyor. I obviously don’t put money as the main goal.
@warrenward
FREEBIRD!!!!!!
If you stick with your current job for several years you will eventually get to a point where you are suited to “mortgages, boundary, line staking, house location and foundation(s)”, and making just enough at it to keep you from trying anything else, but not enough to really thrive. That is were I started, also. I call this kind of work “surveyor candy” because it is formulaic, comfortable, and sometimes fun, but not real challenging, or profitable, for the long run.
Personally I’d be going for this opportunity, but I’m not you. Make your decision but wait a day or so before announcing yourself. If you sleep well, it is the right decision.
No such decision is irreversible. It is not likely that this will be the last job you ever hold. A year or 2 with mom and pop, another couple on the construction side, maybe move onto the survey department of a big project engineering firm, etc., etc., pretty soon you’ve built a monster resume. Eight or 10 years of “mortgages, boundary, line staking, house location and foundation(s)” just leads to 40 years of “mortgages, boundary, line staking, house location and foundation(s)”.
- Posted by: @mark-mayer
No such decision is irreversible. It is not likely that this will be the last job you ever hold. A year or 2 with mom and pop, another couple on the construction side, maybe move onto the survey department of a big project engineering firm, etc., etc., pretty soon you’ve built a monster resume.
This. This, one thousand percent.
The best surveyors I knew were the ones who had moved around a fair amount during the first part of their career. There’s no way I would have the knowledge that I do if I hadn’t worked for ~15 different licensees across seven firms, four states, and all types of surveying from mortgage surveys to heavy civil to transportation, geodetic control to airports and more.
The cool part? I now know what I like doing, I have a large enough skill set to keep me engaged and valuable to my employer, and I make it my business to continue learning new stuff so I can stay relevant.
When I started, there were some guys at my first employer who are still there 17 years later. I definitely took some financial hits by moving around, but I generally gained them back. And after getting all that experience and then getting licensed, I don’t really worry about finding work.
Starting off and sticking around at one firm for twenty years may have been the norm in the past, but nowadays it’s just as likely to paint you into a corner.
If you do the same basic thing for twenty years, you don’t have twenty years’ of experience, you have one year of experience twenty times over. This is doubly true if you do this early on in your career. Those guys I knew back at the first firm are doing just fine, but they can really only do a couple of things well. If that’s what you want, that’s cool too, but as everyone else upthread has said, only you can make that decision.
And as depressing as it is for me to say this, the best way to move up the salary chain is almost always to jump ship – or at least let your current employer attempt to match a competing offer. Yearly raises barely outpace inflation these days, unless you get lucky enough to land at a solid firm that actually does equitable profit-sharing.
So if you want to start off future negotiations from a strong position, get those numbers up there early on and let your future employers know what you are worth and that you are still looking to grow.
If that means you get additional experience along the way, that’s a win-win.
“…people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” -Neil Postman I would suggest to stay where you are and get the experience you want, after all that’s why you moved there. I’ve done it all. Small firms, Big Firms, Construction 3D-model building, Heavy Highway Survey Superiendent, Mobile LiDAR, sUAS, Adjunct College Instructor, and now I work for the Feds as a Geodetic Surveyor. I could never have been able to do all of that without those Licenses. Don’t worry the money will be easy once you get that PLS. Then you can chose your own path and demand the money you deserve.
1000*1000% agree with you and Mark.
I’m with my second set of 10 licenses and it’s a neopolitan ice cream sandwich for sure. one perspective will hinder you unless you’re taking over the family business.
- Posted by: @thebionicman
At the end of the day it’s about who will invest in you. The boundary shop is only good experience if they do good work, provide mentoring, and support your growth. The big money guys are usually only good while the economy is steaming along
That is some serious truth right there!
FWIW, I’d tend toward taking the new job. While you are doing boundary work, it sounds like the same thing every day that may or may not be to your future benefit.
Andy
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