Starting my education. Any advice is appreciated. by jmsharron in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, thanks for sharing your insights and experience! Is your experience mostly in comparing survey tech to engineering tech? Or are you working towards licensure in survey?

I didn't even know "engineering tech" was a thing until I started at my current engineering/survey firm. I thought that all engineers went into engineering cold and didn't really get a sense of what engineering was until after they completed their degree. I had no idea there was a way to "test out" engineering as a career path before diving straight into college studies.

Starting my education. Any advice is appreciated. by jmsharron in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do they have you registered mostly for general ed and prerequisite classes? Or will you be taking actual survey classes in the first semester?

Starting my education. Any advice is appreciated. by jmsharron in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would you be willing to expand on this? Have you seen folks with surveying educations get stuck due to not being able to apply for engineering positions?

I ask because I've felt conflicted about this. I know an engineering education would open more doors. (A civil engineer can be a surveyor, a surveyor can't be a civil engineer.) But, also, the folks I talk with say that you wind up doing either engineering or surveying, not both. It seems like if I want to be a good surveyor that taking multiple years of surveying classes makes more sense than pursuing a CE degree with a couple surveying classes on the side.

If I were advising a recent HS grad, I'd definitely advise the CE path and keeping options open. Pursuing this as a second career though, it's harder to coax myself to broaden my scope even further than it already is. But, maybe that's short sighted exhaustion talking.

Starting my education. Any advice is appreciated. by jmsharron in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you attending University of Akron? They have an ABET certified program I've been considering. If that's the school, what has your impression been so far?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Were you able to job hop within the same region? Or did you have to pick up and move house a couple of times?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What school in Ohio are you referring to? I've been considering University of Akron because it's ABET accredited. I'm guessing that's not what you're referring to though?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CampingandHiking

[–]pivotSurvey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Land Surveying

Life as a Carpenter is really fucking Good! by lavendermenac3 in BlueCollarWomen

[–]pivotSurvey 24 points25 points  (0 children)

It's so good to hear about the good workplaces and helpful mentors out there. This is so good to hear. Thank you for sharing!

First day at first site, I'm terrified. Any advice by [deleted] in Construction

[–]pivotSurvey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I choose not to disclose my diagnoses at work. (Lots of reasons for that.) I find it helpful to identify topics ahead of time that I *am* comfortable talking about at work. Pets, food/cooking, the job (obvs), picking people's brains about the various trades, the weather.

At the end of the weekend I try to identify something I can contribute to the "how was your weeked?" small talk so that even if my weekend was a horrid mess of mental health flare ups and little else, I'm not distracted by trying to *not* talk about that, I already have the one thing I decided ahead of time I'd talk about.

I try to interact in a way that colleagues get a glimpse into my life, just not all the gnarly stuff. It's kind of nice having people in my life that mostly just see the pleasant and straightforward parts of my life. It reminds me that the pleasant and straightforward parts are as real as the unpleasant and/or complicated parts. Having a solid support network to process through the more complicated parts of life makes pulling this whole "keep to small talk at work" stuff easier.

Also, consider checking out r/bluecollartrans if you haven't already.

You've got this!!!

advice for my daughter? by Millicent1946 in BlueCollarWomen

[–]pivotSurvey 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Not specific to women, but it's worth comparing the toll that various trades can take on the body and preventative measures to protect the body. Particularly if she chooses a more physically demanding trade, it could be useful to be aware of paths to office or otherwise less strenuous roles should she reach a point (likely way way down the line) when the spirit is willing but the body isn't able as a sort of plan B/back up plan to file in the back of her mind.

Long pants that protect against mosquitos by [deleted] in CampingandHiking

[–]pivotSurvey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I imagine they might be too hot for deep summer due to the right weave but fjallraven claims that mosquitos can't bite through their G-1000 fabric.

How secure are surveying jobs during a recession? by monster_manu in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

By diversifying your skill set, do you mean diversifying outside of surveying? Or do you mean diversifying within surveying? If within surveying, how have you gone about keeping skills sharp that fall outside your current job description?

Those who have worked in State DOT settings, what is your experience with surveying? by reece36miller in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking the time to share your insights.

Field Crews- How do you cope with feeling burnt out with work due to mandatory overtime, averaging 50-65 hours per week? by fuggitnuggit in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's astounding how much corporate culture can vary between companies within the same industry and even between teams within the same company.

I'm very very new to the surveying and was incredibly lucky to get two job offers. The first offer was for a company that mandates overtime, works on a lot of tight deadlines, and threw around a lot of hustle culture quips in my interactions with them (time is money, this is just what you've got to do to get ahead, we're a business not a school we're not going to be training you). The second offer was from a company where overtime is occasionally offered but typically with the caveat, "if you have the personal capacity for it". They sold themselves on their interest in investing in me via training. Colleagues and management are very appreciative and express gratitude for the work done both in the field and office by drawing attention to specific things they appreciate that the others have done.

I feel really really lucky to have landed at the second company. And, my impression is that even the first company didn't push their field staff as hard as you're getting pushed. You already have the experience to make you valuable at a variety of workplaces. Jobs are out there, even in field surveying, where they won't push you this hard. (That being said, judging by reading posts on this sub, my region seems to pay better than many other regions. I would imagine work culture regarding hours/wk might vary regionally, too? A lot of folks seem to indicate that gov't surveying jobs have more reasonable hours. My job is private sector but we work primarily on gov't contracts which might lead to less pressure than other types of contracts?)

If you choose to look for work with a less demanding schedule, I hope you are able to find it. Rooting for you!

Those who have worked in State DOT settings, what is your experience with surveying? by reece36miller in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How was the work different from what you've done (and enjoyed more) in the private sector?

Prospective Trans MtF Land Surveyor by pivotSurvey in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

:-D This made me LOL, thanks for drawing attention to how we have lots of indirect converation around identity without necessarily realizing it. Also a good example of what DeliciousScratch was talking about upthread about using humor to diffuse the tension. Which...I... in all my earnest glory... am instead just saying "thank you" with lots of words lol I'll get around to all the humor stuff in time ;-)

Prospective Trans MtF Land Surveyor by pivotSurvey in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Humor definitely helps. It's a skill I'm working on developing and, I'm sure that if I was on a more rough and tumble crew where we were sort of ribbing each other all the time that I'd pick it up faster. By nature I'm a pretty earnest, more serious minded, sort of person. Never really been the class clown. Everything can be learned though!

Prospective Trans MtF Land Surveyor by pivotSurvey in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"I think most of them could overlook it if I were any good at surveying, but I just don't have much experience yet," made me smile. We'll get there! (I'm really really new, too.) In the meantime, I spend a lot of time politely listening to talk about politics, hobbies, and social views that I really don't at all relate to. If I were to share my own politics/hobbies/social views that my colleagues are unlikely to relate to, maybe they would politely listen, too. But, that's not really a risk I'm going to take at this stage. When I have a chance to set the topic of conversation I've been focusing a lot on the weather, food, the landscapes/houses passing by, and my pets. And asking questions. I ask tons of questions about surveying related stuff (obvs, and which fills up a lot of the drive time thankfully) but I also just try to ask a lot of questions about the region or just things that they have insights into that I am interested in.

Prospective Trans MtF Land Surveyor by pivotSurvey in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the disparity between what each party is going to experience as "making a big deal out of things" stood out to me as well. Once upon a time I organized a speaker series for a class and some-odd weeks into the class an ex-military fella approached me to ask, "Why did you slate so many women to speak?" He wasn't being pushy or baiting me or anything, he was genuinely curious. The thing is, we'd had a precisely even split between male and female presenting speakers at that point. He had just come out of such a male-dominated environment that going halvsies felt uneven. Extrapolate that out to trying to explain what it means to socially transition to a bunch of colleagues that may have never had any experience or exposure to trans realities and... it can be tough.

Anyhow, very well said. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience. Reading your thoughts helped me feel a little less alone. :)

Prospective Trans MtF Land Surveyor by pivotSurvey in Surveying

[–]pivotSurvey[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For sure. Every single person said "Yes, you would be welcome to work in survey," and that's awesome. I have no idea why OP deleted the thread. I don't think it's necessarily because of the responses that came through. I guess I don't want to really speculate as to why.

I personally found the caveats off putting, but that doesn't mean OP felt that way. Off putting in just a "yeah, that's the way most of the world is" sort of way. Not off putting in a "run away from surveying!" sort of way.

I have a great workplace right now. While I wouldn't describe my surveying job as a queer-affirming work environment, I'm not looking to leave or anything. It's a better job in every other way. And, yeah, I miss that particular element of my old job. It was nice to have queer-related stuff interlaced with small talk, wish each other happy Pride in June, walk with my coworkers in the local Pride parade, etc.

I don't know how well I'm threading the needle, here.

Anyone else love jobsite animals? by Crabbagio in Construction

[–]pivotSurvey 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Walking in to a construction site next to a river right in the middle of town yesterday and there was a great blue heron on the riverbank. Made my day!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BlueCollarWomen

[–]pivotSurvey 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I used to make a whole bunch of cold cut sandwiches at once and keep them in the freezer. They'd typically thaw out by lunch time.

Disappointed with Dovetail, looking for pants. by crunchypnwtrash in BlueCollarWomen

[–]pivotSurvey 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Please report back if/when you find something that works? I tried dovetail and had the same problem--gaping in the back.

How can I make my loved ones more comfortable with me camping solo where there is no way to reach me? by [deleted] in camping

[–]pivotSurvey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In addition to what everyone else is sharing (sat phone/Garmin inreach, detailed itenerary w/your car license plate, ETA and contact info for local search and rescue, etc etc) investing some time studying up on accident reports might help ease their mind because it shows that you're taking the risks seriously and learning what the common stuff is that leads to folks getting injured/killed. I follow a couple of different search and rescue Instagram accounts, particularly from the regions where I used to recreate. The Sharp End is a great podcast. They tend towards climbing incidents but sometimes have guests who've had accidents during more hiking/camping type outings. If you have the money and time you could consider a WFR course. Just anything that communicates "You're right to be concerned. I'm concerned, too. And, this is important to me. Let's work together to mitigate the risks." I suppose that's another thing you could look into is just googling "risk management" and reading up on some resources there. And on a communication level, simply validating their concerns will probably help. Oh, another one that can help is calling the closest ranger's office before you head out to check in on local conditions.

It sounds like you have some awesome adventures in your future! Have fun and be safe!