California Surveyors Forums

For my class, i need to interview a min. of 3 PLS's and ultimately write a paper based off of my findings.
Questions:
What path did you take in regards to education to help you earn your license (PLS)?
Describe correlation between your education and where you are now?
If you can give me ONE advice/tip, what would that be in respect to earning your license (PLS)?

Thanks,
Shawn

4 year degree from CSU Fresno.
Education exposred me to range of topics I would not have been exposed to otherwise.
Having college worked for a small firm and received a wide range of experience, I did not focus on one area, ie construction. To pass the exam you MUST have a broad background.

Shawn,
Are you looking for the path to getting ones L.S. or the path to what has led them to the level of success they may be having as a land surveyor? I see these as not necessarily being the same experiences.

Shawn,
I went to California State University, Fresno to earn my four year degree.

My education, and all land surveyors education should be a continuing aspect to be a professional land surveyor. You will continue to learn throughout your life, at every position you hold. Each job is different, and that experience will direct you on a path as you traverse your life. A professor from Fresno told us that we are an ellipsoid, and with every day of experience we gain a little more to becoming that well rounded meatball. We are all in search to be that perfect sphere.

The best advice/tip to you to becoming licensed is to get involved. CLSA chapters are the best networking tool available to you. Attend local meetings, talk to others, because some day you will walk into an interview and see Joe Surveyor, PLS XXXX sitting across the table ready to interview you. You will be relieved the second you see him, a friendly face across the table from you, all because you attended to meetings and have talked with him many times.

Good Luck, and if you have other questions, send me a pm and we can talk further.

Lehmann wrote:Shawn,
Are you looking for the path to getting ones L.S. or the path to what has led them to the level of success they may be having as a land surveyor? I see these as not necessarily being the same experiences.

Thanks to all!

David, i will call you tomorrow, thanks!

Lehmann, the latter.

Best piece of advice given and recieved ?

Slow down. . . pay attention . . . and for "gol darns sake" check your work.

University of the Pacific was nice (expensive) but the best advice came from old timers and seminars.

A college education can teach you construction staking ie: engineers helper.
On the job training with an old savvy professional, can teach boundary control.

Best wishes

In my 4 yr degree, I had 1 class in construction staking and one in road design. There was 1 on description writing, 2 on "legal aspects" which was heavily focused on boundary issues, another specifically on boundary surveys, and several others of a more general nature that were equally applicable to boundary as to construction.

So, Good, "Evan the Terrible" says that you're comment is an "uneducated" or uninformed one. A college education won't prepare one to be a good construction surveyor any more than it prepares one to be a competent boundary surveyor. Good experience is required as much for construction as for boundary surveying.

The important thing to know about a college education, be it a 1 yr certificate, a 2 yr AS, a 4 yr BS, an MS, or a PhD (and perhaps this is what Good intended), is that the degree gives you technical knowledge, and until you have gained the experience to develop professional judgment, you will be a technician, separated from other technicians only by the amount of training received.

But, a degree is a distinct advantage on the road to licensure, IMO. A BS in surveying is best if your plan is to become an LS, but any technical degree of a fairly demanding curriculum is still an advantage.

The reasons are that having gone through the formal education process, the graduate has learned to study, has learned to give precise and complete answers on exams, has been exposed to a much broader array of types of surveying than would be gained by the experience-only route, has learned research methods, and been exposed to other education topics beyond what is presented in grades K-12.

I highly recommend that anyone who wants to advance to LS get as much education as they are willing to pay for. I also believe, as Keith stated above, that one's formal education should not stop once they have their license.

Those who want to say that there aren't sufficient education opportunities available need to admit that's not the kind of BS needed to move ahead. The opportunities are far more available now than they were 20, 10, or even 5 years ago. If you don't want to do what's necessary in terms of money and time, don't make a lame excuse, just accept that it's the choice you make.

Those comments are to nobody in particular. Just general ranting.


In short, education is a great advantage in technical training and study skills. Good, progressive experience is essential to honing professional judgement. You don't need a degree, but it sure helps.

The combination of education and useful experience allowed me to pass two states' LS exams on the first attempt each.

I passed the OR exam prior to graduating from OIT largely because I had an excellent instructor for the advanced boundary law class.

Evan the "T"
"Quote"
"The important thing to know about a college education, be it a 1 yr certificate, a 2 yr AS, a 4 yr BS, an MS, or a PhD (and perhaps this is what Good intended), is that the degree gives you technical knowledge, and until you have gained the experience to develop professional judgment, you will be a technician, separated from other technicians only by the amount of training received."

Yep, this quote is very close to what I was refering to. We discussed today, that a 4-year degree'd person enters the field at an entry level position just the same as a highschool grad. Unfair. . .true, but until both persons learn and absorb the profession (from a competent instructor) NEither of them is "ready for prime time"
In short, a college degree alone doesnt catapult one to the top.

Unfortunately I have been told by many recent degreed surveyors that "they actually know more than I do because they are up on the new technologies"

POB I think had an article about the difference between "High accuracy-Low precision" vs "High precision-Low accuracy"

In my personal experience I've yet to hear a high school grad partychief rattle on about how precisely his calculations are on some random or mis-guided point . Usually those "guys" tell me how much they had to dig to find the old corner.

But then come to think of it, I really havent heard any ramblings from a Humbold grad either. Good Program ?

**Unfortunately I have been told by many recent degreed surveyors that "they actually know more than I do because they are up on the new technologies"**

You need to quit hanging around them recent fresnoids, Good. I've heard that as upperclassmen, they need to take 6 credits each in "Alma mater propoganda" and "Ego infaltion" in order to graduate.


Is that true RAM? I know it's a looong way back...

I took numerous night college classes in Survey technology. I have probably 70 units but NO DEGREE. Classes in boundary and SMA were needed, as was a LS prep course before the test.
After 13 years in the business I got my license. I would work for large companies and see all the money to be made if licensed. Then I would work for small companies, to get more varied experience, and see how hard it was to get paid and lose interest in getting the license, finally I just did it.
For the last 18 years have had my own business and its been quite successful, wish I hadn't waited 10 years to do it.
A person can be as good at a job as he/she wants to be. Its their call.
A 4 year degree in Surveying will not prepare you as a businessman/accountant/salesman/janitor.
I learned GPS operation by GPS's existing county GPS points. With todays technology anything you learn today will be obsolete in 10-15 years. All my equipment exc my level is "no longer supported", so if I buy new equipment i have to learn all over again - suks.

Yep,

Pretty close to Fresno here,

My best study partner was a Humboldt grad. "nuff said" ?

But the Butcher really made a point, its not where or how much one has studied, its really how much a person wants to grow.

Dont give up on that old equipment. I've found many an original stone mound using a 300' plastic tape and a hand held compass.

Then we shot the dang things with GPS and ran comps to the hundred-thousands [go figure]

THEN 2 years later, we were asked to reflag one of the old section corners only to find that a cow had rolled it down the hill 20-feet when using it as a scratching post ?????

So much for it being a "durable" monument.