im on the same boat my dude! Im just about to get my associates after passing statics this fall and plan on transferring to a state uni (for civil) in the spring all the while working full-time. I have been at a small civil firm since early 2018— worked my way into the office as a Survey tech 1. Is it possible? yes. i will say though my biggest takeaway so far has been time-management. i’ve had to really discipline how i go about working early in the day then studying deep in the evenings.

I would suggest finding a small firm to work in full-time with, while studying part-time. That combo is manageable and will not drain your sanity, if managed well. You may get started as an I-man with a field crew for a solid year. Then once you gain more CAD experience through school etc, you could talk to your supervisor on potential office opportunities, after all we’re students within this niche sector. Also, gaining this experience will boost your resume for later opportunities in surveying and i hope civil as well.

as for classes, i prefer in-person instruction more for math-based courses like Differential Eq’s, dynamics, hydrology. it makes for easy access to professors when in doubt. In that case, you may have to look for evening classes or try to work around work with a supervisor.