PLSO The Oregon Surveyor January February 2021

From the PLSO Chair Curta calculator and still have one (many of youmay not even knowwhat I’m talking about). I can look back at that time and think it was fun times, but when calcula - tors, computers, and CAD drawing came around, those were good changes to our profession. Some of us started out surveying work - ing in a 3- or 4-person crew, pulling chain, brushing out line, and yes, holding a plumb bob steady so the instrument person could get a good shot. We used to recruit people into our profession by introducing them to surveying through the field crew experience. They learn the challenge of locating that monument two feet below the surface or that PK nail under a lift of asphalt. They also experience some of our area’s beauty and wonders while working out in the field. Then they would “move up the ladder” when they learned some of the office work and drafting to a point where they even might get to help resolve the boundary of a project. That is how most of us learned our profession and let’s don’t forget some of us also had survey college education. I do remember when I was about to graduate from OIT my advisor, Bob Lecklider, told me that you will really start learning when you just listen and soak in everything who - ever hires you has to say. Now we have Robotic total stations and GPS. This has created the ability to do some of your field work with one per - son. The instrument technology is good but the result in fewer field people might be a change that hurts our profession. Arguably, the change of field instrumen - tation for surveyors is where we began to see the reduction of younger survey - ors coming into the profession. That field time was a great recruitment for getting people excited about surveying and pur - suing it as a career. It was also a great learning tool to pass our experiences onto the next generation of surveyors. You still need to know the tricks on find - ing that monument or how to read the evidence in locating the boundary. That all comes from going through the battles and sometimes not getting it right the first time and going back for another try. Going to school for surveying is a great start to understand the basics and tech - niques of surveying. Getting out into the field and in the office and learning what it takes to gather all the information and reduce it down to where to set the mon - ument is where school really starts, and we all are continuously going to school. So, is change good for surveying or do we call it progress? On the one hand, we need change. Without change we would still be measuring distances 300 feet at a time and spilling coffee on that almost completed survey map. What is bad about change is sometimes we lose something that was successful just for a change, such as how we recruit people into our profession. Progress is how we survey from the days of George Washington to today. How we measure has changed but we still are re - solving the boundaries the same way. On the other hand, let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. A change has occurred to one of the ways we used to lure our next generation of surveyors into the profession. We need to find a way to bolster our ranks with young sur - veyors so we can pass on our expertise before it is lost. We take great pride in our accomplishments in surveying and we should be able to pass that on to the next generation of surveyors. Reaching out to the schools and get - ting the word out to the students about surveying is a great way to show off our profession. A booth at home shows and speaking at local groups are other ways to “show off” our profession. Are there any other ways to get the word out? Maybe, the next time you are out in the field and that young adult asks, “Whatcha doin’?,” take a minute and explain to them. They might be one of our future surveyors. x 3