Thank you, Clark. I appreciate you took the time to write.
We release a video every other Tuesday. I welcome constructive criticism and topic suggestions.
Dave
PLS in the field?
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DWoolley
- Posts: 1074
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:21 pm
- Location: Orange County
- Contact:
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Mike Mueller
- Posts: 328
- Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 6:53 am
Re: PLS in the field?
Currently you don't need a degree to become a PE(https://www.bpelsg.ca.gov/applicants/fl ... for_pe.pdf). Currently you don't need a degree from a law school to be a lawyer (just no soul iirc :) ). When I was thinking of being a high school teacher (2000's), you didn't need to have a degree in your topic of instruction, just pass the CBEST and CSET and have ANY degree plus a teaching credential.
Continuing education or re-taking the LS test every 4-6 years I think would be far far better for our profession than a degree requirement.
That said, if we ever go to a 4 year degree requirement I personally think it would be far better to make it ANY degree. Most folks with a BS can get a nice job that is likely in line with what they were intending to do. Most BAs realize they got a MRS/MR degree (aka go to school to find a spouse) and struggle to find any actual direct use of their degree. The difference in a BA and a BS is really just how much time you have to spend taking math/science classes, which frankly doesn't seem like it would do much for surveyors. Who has used the power rule in the last decade? Or stoichiometry? Not me.
The true benefit of going to a 4 year college is the practice you get reading and writing and learning how to learn/discuss. All the actual facts I learned at UC Davis have had one of the following fates:
1. Forgotten because its useless in my life IE all my geology polarized light microscope skills
2. Used all the time and could be learned on-the-job, IE Pythagorean theorem, SOH CAH TOA
3. Are built into the spreadsheet (and then forgotten), and can be looked up as needed, IE PI past 3.1415
4. Is wrong because science knows better now, R.I.P Pluto
5. Is completely unrelated to Surveying, IE the Chicken Lab classes, or the marriage details of English medieval peasants
6. Was just a repeat of High School, IE Calculus, Chemistry, Newtonian Physics etc.
Granted I wasn't taking any survey specific classes, but talking to LS's who are graduates of Fresno, I don't think they derived an extraordinary benefit that couldn't be replicated with a good library. Its like Barret said above, self motivated smart folks will do well, regardless of how official their education is.
Catching some of those anthropology majors, or history majors like myself, would be far more likely, and I think would help the profession more than a bunch of I-couldn't-get-into-the-engineering/CS-track-so-I-took-the-surveyor-track-to-try-and-lag-putt-into-them-later people. AKA 2nd rate engineers.
Mikey Mueller, PLS
Sonoma County
PS. Dave, our whole office loves the 10 minute videos. Thanks for doing them. I wish I had seen the pincushion one a couple months ago so I had the background (and courage) to yank some incorrect pipes.
Continuing education or re-taking the LS test every 4-6 years I think would be far far better for our profession than a degree requirement.
That said, if we ever go to a 4 year degree requirement I personally think it would be far better to make it ANY degree. Most folks with a BS can get a nice job that is likely in line with what they were intending to do. Most BAs realize they got a MRS/MR degree (aka go to school to find a spouse) and struggle to find any actual direct use of their degree. The difference in a BA and a BS is really just how much time you have to spend taking math/science classes, which frankly doesn't seem like it would do much for surveyors. Who has used the power rule in the last decade? Or stoichiometry? Not me.
The true benefit of going to a 4 year college is the practice you get reading and writing and learning how to learn/discuss. All the actual facts I learned at UC Davis have had one of the following fates:
1. Forgotten because its useless in my life IE all my geology polarized light microscope skills
2. Used all the time and could be learned on-the-job, IE Pythagorean theorem, SOH CAH TOA
3. Are built into the spreadsheet (and then forgotten), and can be looked up as needed, IE PI past 3.1415
4. Is wrong because science knows better now, R.I.P Pluto
5. Is completely unrelated to Surveying, IE the Chicken Lab classes, or the marriage details of English medieval peasants
6. Was just a repeat of High School, IE Calculus, Chemistry, Newtonian Physics etc.
Granted I wasn't taking any survey specific classes, but talking to LS's who are graduates of Fresno, I don't think they derived an extraordinary benefit that couldn't be replicated with a good library. Its like Barret said above, self motivated smart folks will do well, regardless of how official their education is.
Catching some of those anthropology majors, or history majors like myself, would be far more likely, and I think would help the profession more than a bunch of I-couldn't-get-into-the-engineering/CS-track-so-I-took-the-surveyor-track-to-try-and-lag-putt-into-them-later people. AKA 2nd rate engineers.
Mikey Mueller, PLS
Sonoma County
PS. Dave, our whole office loves the 10 minute videos. Thanks for doing them. I wish I had seen the pincushion one a couple months ago so I had the background (and courage) to yank some incorrect pipes.