Have a family member that is graduating from A&M with a University Studies major with focus on GIS and geography. Minor in Geology and Spacial Science. He is leaning towards becoming a surveyor. I know that it takes some time and experience to gain those licenses.

Any general thoughts on the profession? What is the entry level salary/per hour he should expect? Any other relevant information to pass along would be great.

TIA!

can they even get a SIT and become a surveyor with those degrees?

I haven't looked in years but you used to have a surveying or civil engineering degree to become a surveyor.

I believe he will have 32 hours in the courses required. See below.

From TLS site:

[ol]
Option 2: hold a Bachelor's degree with 32 hours in civil engineering, land surveying, math, photogrammetry, forestry, land law or the physical sciences and one year of experience working under a RPLS;[/ol]

Yes,

Any bachelor's degree is acceptable for the degree requirement so long as he has 32 "surveying-related" courses as defined by the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying.

The Board has a fairly extensive pdf that outlines the requirements :
Candidate Guidelines

Age data on land surveyors in Texas : http://sci.tamucc.edu/CSCI/GISC/documents/rpls2018.pdf

Salary info for land surveyors in Texas (in civil engineering firms) : https://imgur.com/a/kkPK6We

Lone Star College Montgomery Land Survey Department if he needs to supplement his degree: http://www.lonestar.edu/land-surveying-technology-dept-montgomery.htm

If you have any questions he can email me (I'm an RPLS in Houston area): drsayas2005 at gmail dot com

I'm a 2013 Spatial Science grad out of ESSM and I'm an RPLS in the Dallas area (recent grad but I'm 36 with a lot of industry experience). He's good on the 32 hour requirement.

Entry pay may not be great. Expect ~$15/hr tops in major metro areas for a greenhorn field job. Take some community college cad classes online. Your employer may or may not cover them. But they're cheap. Pay will increase very quickly with demonstrated want to and a positive learning curve.

The industry is BOOMING and the RPLS crowd is aging. There has been a small glut of new registrants the last 3 years but it will barely compensate for the retiring and passing guys. There's some other industry history that means the recent surge in RPLS numbers isn't the increase that it seems. Registration is a rarity and a valued commodity to those that need a quality survey.

katlong said:

---

I know that it takes some time and experience to gain those licenses.

---

Someone with a degree in hand, some intelligence, and sheer want to can have their SIT in 6 months or less. This is not a popular opinion in Texas but its the truth.

The RPLS is just two, not more than three, years past that.

This is all really helpful information. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I will shoot it all his way and let him go from there!

Still wish I could've found employment in Surveying.

I've got the classwork or very close (finished all the course for Geospatial/Surveying master's program, plus some during my BSc).

Tried finding employment, was even willing to take on a role as a rodman to get my foot in the door and some experience. Just need someone/somewhere to hire me. While the oilfield isn't that bad, I'm starting to get to a point in my life that I'd like to have a "normal" 8-5 job, and to sleep in my own bed more than 25-50% of the year.

Where are you looking? My company has rodman jobs in Houston, Fort Worth and Austin. There is a shortage of surveyors, someone looking to take the path the RPLS is desired.

Need any seasoned Project Managers with strong utility experience, business development with electrical engineering background.

Im in Wichita Falls, TX. We might be interested. Althought right now i need an Experienced Party Chief and a PM

I'd like to explore what is need to do to work my way to RPLS.

Like I said earlier, I'd like to explore opportunities to get out of working in the Oilfield. Even willing to relocate.

Can you post an email address that I can contact you at? I can put you in touch with our Austin/San Antonio survey director. He can better help you with trying to get in the door either here or maybe get you with the right people in Houston.

aggie4231@gmail.com

TSPS (https://www.tsps.org/) have regional Chapters all over the State and are highly involved in the Surveying Profession. Might be a good idea for your relative to connect with their local TSPS Chapter for educational and networking purposes.

To echo some earlier posts - yes, the Surveying profession has a massive shortage of Texas-Licensed Land Surveyors. For reference, there are only ~6,800 Surveyors that were EVER licensed in Texas and probably less than 2,000 use that license on a daily basis.. across the whole State.

This person should absolutely dig into the traditional principles of Surveying, but should also keep informed of newer technology with any buzz-words like Photogrammetry, Drones (UAV), LiDAR, etc. Many larger firms are working with these technologies to more efficiently collect data.

Then again, there are tons of traditional Land Surveyors making a great living doing what's tried and true - especially if they're tied into their local communities and are generally good business folks.

If I can help with anything else, have them shoot me a note to my email.

I'm c/o 2013 with a degree in Geography (GIS focus), and have my SIT and will be taking the RPLS exam in April. They will have the hours

We just hired a Rangeland Ecology grad and the board approved his degree. So basically any bachelors degree qualifies if you argue hard enough with them.

One of my coworkers got approved with an accounting degree