How I Ended Up In Surveying
I would love to say that I had it all planned out, that I knew exactly what I was doing and that it all worked out perfectly. The truth is, surveying was never a part of the plan, not even close.
As everyone in the surveying industry knows, it's rare for someone to plan on becoming a surveyor. Unless someone close to them, like a family member is already in the industry. I was no different. I had no idea what a surveyor even was.
In high school, I took carpentry and planned on becoming a cabinet maker or furniture builder. Working with wood was interesting, fun and exciting. Being able to see something in my mind and bring it to life was incredibly satisfying.
There was just one small problem.
Within a year I realized that woodworking full-time wasn’t as wonderful as I thought it would be. Working in factories all day, doing the same repetitive tasks day in and day out was wearing me down. Then there were the older guys in the shop. Every day the guys would complain about their lives and how much they hated their jobs. They would complain about being stuck and that they couldn’t afford to make a change. They would tell me to get back to school and do something better with my life.
So what's a guy to do?
One night while hanging out with a couple of friends we looked at a pamphlet from the local community college. The pamphlet had a one-paragraph description of all the programs the college offered. I decided to sign up for Civil Engineering Technology and submitted my application the next day. The first year of college was a common year for several specialties including:
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I know what you’re thinking.
It wasn’t much to go off of. Being young and carefree I didn’t care. All I knew was woodworking wasn’t the career for me and I needed a change.
I got lucky, really lucky.
I found most specialties to be interesting but Geomatics was the winner for me. Being able to work outside, use cool technology like GPS and looking at maps and plans were perfect for me.
And as they say.
The rest is history, or at the very least, a story for another day.
Educator & Market Strategy | Judicial Expert | Treasury Mgt and Development Economics | Building Trust & Sharing Ideas | MBA in Finance & Management; MSc in Economics; AS in Survey and Data Geosystems; BA Geography
1 年The same happened to me. I always loved the outdoors and doing work with cool field tech but I decided I needed to work in finance so I did my 5y Economics Science degree + MBA + Specializations, only to 20 years after look back and realise how much I needed "Topography " out of my hobby cupboard and in my daily life, so I deduced to use my Associate degree in Surveying and Geosciences to open a firm and gradually insert myself in the market . To me, the biggie is, besides the tech , math and cool field days you mentioned,also the fact that I can place my finger on solid accomplishments and works which will affect the community around me. Cheers and best from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ontario Land Surveyor - Project Manager
1 年Thank you for sharing your story Daniel. My father is a licensed Ontario Land Surveyor, so obviously, I had an early exposure to the industry. Like most children of small business owners, growing up, I often got conscripted to pitch in and help dad out. Mostly, I was out in the field helping dad or one of the crews but occasionally I was in the office doing a wide variety of tasks. However, despite my exposure to surveying, I wanted to become a chartered accountant, until I got a summer job doing book keeping. After that utterly mind numbing experience, stuck in a back office doing the same thing all day long, I quickly re-evaluated my career choices. I realized surveying is a great profession to be in. You have the opportunity to be able to work outside or work in the office or a little of both. Every project is unique. You get the opportunity to use cutting edge equipment and software. Surveying has such a wide and varied aspects, its a profession that can appeal to just about everyone. I could go on and on why surveying is the greatest profession on earth but you're limited on the length of you comments here.
B.Sc. (Land Surveying/Geomatics) Engineering Graduate
1 年?Wow this is soo true and insightful ? I'm still a student but I feel like I'm on the right path??
Sales Professional
1 年I remember us doing the surveying in High school and how you excelled at it. Glad to see you made a career out of it and love it so. Way to go Dan!
Logistics Coordinator at FWS Group of Companies
2 年Interesting read Dan. thanks for sharing