URS – “a fair wage but nothing else”

To be "fair", survey technicians are a dime a dozen.

Turn-over in SURVEYING is -always- high, and contract dependent. But that shouldn't be carried to reflect the environmental sector of the business, or the engineering contract vehicles.

And for a SURVEY TECH, the fact that you even have ANY benefits is AWESOME. Most private surveyors do not pay benefits at all, as they are usually sole-proprietor smaller outfits.

If you are a survey tech at ALL worth your weight, your wage is set only by your own expectations, and what you are willing to accept.

How many miles can you close in an elevation loop in one day? On a boundary, how many feet will you traverse in a day? How long does it take you to cut 100ft of line in thick brush? Does your crew actually hump it, or take it easy and talk to your girlfriends on the cell, since the home office can't really sneak up on you in the woods anyways?

I've worked on crews that were worthless, and on crews that set the standard. Unfortunately, you're only as fast as the slowest person in a survey party.

In a market where the average I-man starts at $12, I was able to ask $14 and get it; in the current economy I could ask $16 and get it. Maybe not from the smaller outfits, but from someone that wanted the quality, and was willing to give me a week to show them my value, sure.

Do you have a CST rating? Are you pursuing classes towards becoming an LSIT or RLS? These things can give you more bartering power.

If you lived out in Atlanta I'd have a company to refer you to, except I don't gather from your views that you're necessarily one of the "hard working" employees, and they'd likely run you into the ground. I know when I left them to join URS, they were sorry to see me go - I was considered their second best I-man out of six crews - the other guy had been there 4 years, I had only been there 1.

When I gave my notice, my crew chief cussed me out, as that was going to leave him with "Mike".

Oh well.

The point to this is, you get back what you put in. And if you're not, then that's your location, not necessarily the entire corporation. Especially as relates to lay-offs, at least for the environmental/engineering sectors.

As for the surveying side, there's a reason why surveyors don't bat an eye when your surveying resume has a different employer every 4 to 6 months - it's COMMON in that industry to have high turn-over. If you want long-term stability, make a career changing decision - the one you're in has no stability with any company - unless you become a registered surveyor. Otherwise, apply to your state's DOT - though THEY will want you to have a CST rating, most likely.

(I worked in the surveying industry for three years while making the right connections to segue into the environmental sector. Clients are a surveyor's potential future employer, if making that transition - as long as they see you as a hard and productive worker. It worked for me - make it work for you, too.

Three hundredths to the right and drive it in!)