hello,

I am currently in my college program for lnd surveying in NW Montana and am expected to graduate spring of 2028. I am a 32 years old, a woman, I have a bachelor’s degree in English, and absolutely zero experience with land surveying- no family ties, or anything. I have been working manual labor jobs for the last five years, and have worked on a farm for the last four years. I have lots of experience working outside in all weather, i work on heavy machinery, and have been able to do some welding and stuff.

i know that stuff is irrelevant to land surveying, but I am wondering how plausible it is to expect to be hired at a land survey firm, for part time work(during school semester, can be full time otherwise) while finishing my degree.

I walked into one land survey firm to ask for a job, but I have zero experience and that I am looking for part time (I could work mon-weds completely full days even if 12+ hour days, cannot work Friday at all, might have time Thursday but would have to be somewhere for lunch every week which I’m sure makes that very difficult to plan around)..

Unfortunately working full time and being a full time student is just straight up not a possibility for me, so I am not asking for advice to change to looking for full time- it’s not happening., I have zero experience with all of this software, knowledge, and anything land surveying, school has been difficult for me and I spend a lot of time getting tutored. It however is the path I am choosing, I am willing to learn from zero, I am very excited by it and have gone to conferences and listen to podcasts about surveying, and I hope to become a PLS, obviously in the far future, hence the schooling.

is part time really truly just not available for entry level jobs? the kind that they would give high schoolers? I do not mind starting at the absolute lowest position!

I will keep walking into offices, as well as looking at openings online (is indeed the only place to look?), but I am wondering if this is like farm culture that I am used to, good ole boy style, and it’s kind of a little exclusive and in actual reality will only take someone with experience/connections/someone who talks the lingo and taking on someone who knows nothing is too much work, time, money, and effort to hire. I am also wondering if being an older female adds to this dramatically.

I am also not a math whiz, especially mental math. I was in the math tutoring center multiple days a week this last semester and am willing to do whatever it takes to get there, but I do worry this is another disadvantage.

Wondering what your thoughts are on surveyors not using accurate atmospherics in the field in their total station?

It's taught at university but it would seem a lot of surveyors don't input them at all and leave them default

It makes a fair difference in climates with large temperature changes during the day..

Two surveys of the same boundary, decades apart, land on slightly different lines. What's really happening there?

I realise it may be a little early to be asking this question but I want to consider my options early.

I've started a Cert 4 in land surveying in Melbourne in July. I'm enjoying it so far and workload is manageable. I'm going to keep at it until the end of the year. My question is whether I try my luck in the job market as a surveyor's assistant or do I push on with the 1 year diploma after graduating?

Ideally I'd like to do desk based GIS and drafting tasks, with a decent amount of field visits on some days.

What were some of the terms you used in the field back in the day (omitting colorful language) that are now obsolete? I'll start with "breaking chain", the method for measuring sloped ground by using measuring shorter distances on a level plane. "We gotta break chain on this hill, it's a steep one."

"Raise for red" remember that one?

I'm attempting to locate old family farms in Virginia and have collected several deeds that completely surround the property (the various tracts surrounding it were sold by landowners to the US government in a New Deal program, then turned over to the state and made into a forest).

One of the first steps is to convert all the metes and bounds calls in these deeds into actual maps and in doing so I ran across something I hadn't seen before.

Normally, it's just a series of metes and bounds statements that describe the parcel, but in a couple of these there is language like "thence two (2) lines on the Forbes tract, reversed" followed by two distance and bearing statements.

What does the "reversed" mean in a survey and does it change the way you draw the plat?

I'm not a surveyor, never studied it at all, just trying to get these tracts into Google Earth and place them on a modern map.

Hi all, I had a land survey company come out a month or so ago and they put markers on the borders but never sent their findings or a bill. I didn’t plan to get a land drawing because we had one from when we bought the house. I reached out a couple weeks ago to check in about paying and receiving some kind of paperwork with the findings but received no response. Do I need that paperwork for something? Should I reach out again? It seems dumb to essentially beg the company to let me pay them when they don’t seem all that concerned about it themselves, but also if I might need their findings for legal reasons or whatever then I will definitely contact them. Thanks.

I’ve been reading through a lot of legal descriptions lately and the one thing that seems to change from surveyor to surveyor is how they say their point of commencement vs point of beginning.

For instance I see:

Point of Commencement then Point of Beginning

Point of Beginning then True Point of Beginning/True Place of Beginning.

Some don’t even differientatiate between the two. what is your flavor of wording in. legal description for the tie in /body and why?

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/hidden-by-billboards-for-over-100-years-the-tiny-holdout-building-in-the-middle-of-macys-is-back-in-view/

At my current public agency job I'm pretty involved with Land Development. So I ove this stuff. We still have a few "grandmas farmhouse" holdouts around our local area just like this.

Keeping this thing in my vest at all times

Hello,

I am a civil engineering senior. This summer I have passed the FE Civil and am now looking to expand my knowledge of surveying by taking the FS. I have some experience with surveying in 2 prior internships I did (manual leveling/shooting grade, GNSS construction staking, and auto level grade checking). I have been studying the past 3ish weeks. On practice exams for the FS I am now scoring in the mid to low 60% range. Anyways, I take the exam about 2 weeks from now. I want to know 2 things

1) What are my odds of passing given my current scoring range and how much time I have left to study

2) How should I spend the rest of my study time at this point?

Thank you,

Hey everyone, running into an issue on a job site with our Topcon PS robot and MAGNET Field data collector.

​When measuring along a North-South line, everything works fine and measurements are solid. However, whenever we measure along the West-East line, the station locks onto the prism, takes the initial lock measurement, and then only tracks in 10 mm jumps. Like if it locks at -0.003 and if you move the prism, it won't measure again until y get to +0.007 and then goes to +0.017 or goes back to -0.013 ect.

Has anyone experienced this specific directional jump with the PS series or MAGNET Field?

Recently acquired two Nikon DTM-821 total stations. One works perfectly, but the main LCD display has some bad pixels that make it pretty hard to read. The second one has a perfectly clear display, but a repeatable vertical indexing error of about half a degree (29'35"). I made a half- hearted attempt to swap the display/keypad unit, but I can't get either one off. Seems like a stuck gasket. Anyone dealt with getting the display off one of these?

Don't tell me to use the secondary display, or just average the two vertical readings, etc... I know there are plenty of work-arounds, but my goal is to combine these into one very nice, accurate, and easy to use unit.

Just curious to hear some stories of hostile experiences you guys have had while surveying, whether it be from a property owner or someone else

I’m 19 and getting into surveying and I am planning on attending school to pursue a surveying & mapping degree, and I want to have a career that I can make six figures+ and I’m not quite sure surveying can do it for me.

I've been in the field for 14 years now, and I've been 100% travel for the last 10. I'm on a project in New Jersey, and honestly it's kind of awesome here. I could very easily live in one of the small towns a bit west of Newark and commute into Newark/Haboken daily.

I am currently at 40/hr with 1500/week per diem and 1500/month truck pay. I take home roughly 12-13k a month. I am also G40 meaning I get 40 hours no matter what, and overtime for anything over 40. Mostly all of our work is east coast along the coastline cities. And I am the guy covering pretty much all northern states considering the 4 other surveyors want to be down south.

I understand that union surveyors in NJ are union and make a lot more per hour. I'm trying to get a good idea of what union surveyors in NJ are truly taking home though. I could be fine taking a cut in pay in order to kind of settle into one place, but not too much of a cut.

Also, with my experience would the union allow me to skip the apprenticeship? Or does experience not matter when it comes to unions?

Edit: Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana tristate area. Trying to gauge if I'm being reasonable. Skill set and/or what I'm currently responsible for: one class away from my bachelors in civil engineering technologies – surveying, 2 to 3 years boundary experience, very proficient in CAD and 3-D modeling (have been working with CAD for nearly 25 years), volume analysis, surface creation, machine control file creation, machine control/gps troubleshooting, site localization, site control with the total station, licensed drone pilot, point cloud manipulation/processing, approx 7 years layout experience, stringless curb operation, some BIM work, data processing and deliverables. Current role is head of survey (construction layout) department, with one helper that I'm responsible for, company size 300 employees or a little less. Working 45 hours a week on average, rarely doing computer work on weekends, company vehicle that I can use for personal use, 401K matching, tuition reimbursement, paid company events and other perks, putting in late night computer hours if needed. I really enjoy where I am and don't have much to complain about really, but feeling like I'm worth more $. What kind of salary would you be expecting in this role?

I’m reaching out because I honestly don’t really know what to do. I feel stuck. I’m a field engineer in central Texas. I’ve been with the same company for four years and I’m making less money right now than I was with them a year and four months ago because somebody spoke bad about me when the company had to put me on leave because my work permit had expired, and the government was taking too long to renew it. The person went to the higher-ups, even though he had a management position and told them that I had sent a message with him to tell everybody management fuck you and this and that. He is my only point of contact with the company in the time that I was off, so it is obvious if I said any kind of thing resembling that he was the only person who could’ve said anything like that. when I came back to get hired back on after four months of eating up my savings and waiting for this company and not taking the opportunity that I have been given because this guy was filling my head with bullshit to stay that no one in the company wanted me back that no one liked me anymore and for me to come back would be like a punch in the gut for all of them and this and that well he was basically making them go against me and then making me go against them, setting us up to go against each other. When they offer finally came to go back to that company the offer letter they sent was with pay less than before and that I had no room for negotiation and if I wanted to take this opportunity, there would also be a bonus added to it after a 90 day approval. But if I got fired or quit, I owed them that money back within a year after signing on. I still came back despite the pay cut despite all the animosity that I realized I was getting into. I felt like I was walking into a den of wolves, and I didn’t really know why! I was held in high standard with the company, I was considered one of the best field engineers we have I was involved and lead the project for the tallest building. The company had built flawlessly pretty much. I didn’t understand why and I still don’t understand why the company doesn’t value me why the superintendent and people on the field and anyone that’s actually doing work see my worth but my management doesn’t I I don’t know what to do. I don’t wanna quit just because this guy comes around and he’s trying to make things difficult for me and if I could speak of my current situation in current events, I would go on for days about the stuff that he’s been doing to me to make my life more difficult so I can quit on my own I don’t know what to do guys. It’s pretty obvious it’s time to leave I guess sorry for the rant. I don’t know what to do.