I liked the idea of working outside, using my body and my mind together. I haven't been disappointed! Land surveying can be very physical work, but there is a strong intellectual and technological component as well.

There's a popular misconception that property boundaries are based on coordinates that surveyors can simply "walk to" with our instruments. The reality is that, while physical coordination of monuments is easier than it's ever been, property boundaries often need to be determined based on evidence and plans that are old, decrepit, and done with different technology and expectations than we have today.

A lot of people don't think much about what land surveyors do. In a nutshell, we are the interpreters and providers of landmarks and records that directly impact real property.

Land surveyors start as employees, and move up to partnership in a firm or to ownership of their own enterprise if they wish. Some wind up working for government, private corporations, or public enterprise.

I liked the idea of working outside, using my body and my mind together. I haven't been disappointed! Land surveying can be very physical work, but there is a strong intellectual and technological component as well.

Land surveying has been a positive influence on my life, and I'd encourage anyone who hasn't considered it to give it a chance!

Land surveyors can spend as much time reading legislation, bylaws, and engineering documents as we spend in front of an instrument in the field or calculating coordinates for a subdivision. We are mathematicians, historians, project managers, advocates, engineers, and even chainsaw operators!