Mark Mason Quotes:

This is the worst thing about waiting for someone. You have to look good all the time because they could turn up at any minute and see you before you've seen them

Topics: Waiting, Looks, Minutes

It's easy to be hard on ourselves, but the important thing is to turn a mistake into a learning experience.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Mistake, Important, Easy

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!

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Reading, Engineering, Land, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

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.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Technology, Reality, Expectations, Surveyors, Coordinates

The most difficult days have been the ones I've had to spend correcting a mistake. We're all human, and we make errors in spite of the pains we take not to. It's important to take ownership of the situation and to work to make it right.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Pain, Mistake, Errors, Difficult Days, Correcting

I was attracted to the direct connection with history that land surveyors experience in the form of plans, field notes, and from surveying monuments from decades or even centuries in the past.

Topics: Past, Land, Connections, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

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.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Real, Thinking, Impact, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

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.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Strong, Land, Ideas

In general, salary for land surveyors is often similar to that of a professional engineer or lawyer - surveyors are often "comfortable" but not "wealthy."

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Land, Salary, Lawyer, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

Sometimes I imagine a surveyor 100 years from now reading my plan, retracing my boundaries, and finding the monuments that I set. It's an honor to make a mark in history like that.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Reading, Years, Honor, Surveyors

I've met very few professional land surveyors who regret their career path, and even fewer, who are out of work, even during economic slowdowns.

Topics: Regret, Land, Careers, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

I'm required to do every job well enough that I'd use it as evidence in court - that doesn't come cheaply! Property is a critical asset for individuals. Maintaining the cadastre (legal survey fabric) is an important job and a valuable service.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Jobs, Important, Fabric, Important Jobs

Professional land surveyors take on a lot of responsibility, and should be compensated appropriately.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Responsibility, Land, Should, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

It's important to know that, unlike lawyers, land surveyors put the public interest first. That means we're not biased by our client - this means that the property line will be drawn in the most equitable position, regardless of which neighbor is paying the bill.

Topics: Mean, Land, Important, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

People sometimes are under the impression that finding their property corners should cost as much as changing their oil or blowing out their sprinklers. What they don't realize is that land surveyors are required to stand behind their work for the rest of their lives.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Land, Oil, People, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

Legal land surveyors are few and far between and can find themselves in demand.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Land, Demand, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

Some surveyors live for the work, putting in weeks or months at a time in remote locations. With a young family and hobbies that I'm passionate about, that isn't the path I've chosen. Like in many careers, you need to make your own decisions and follow your own path.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Careers, Decision, Hobbies, Surveyors

Building smart processes to streamline the workflow can make the work easier and the results more reliable, which keeps my head above water and my clients happy.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Smart, Water, Clients

I automate some tasks and delegate many others. Doing research, job organization, data processing, field surveys, and plan preparation can be tedious, detailed work.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Jobs, Data, Organization, Processing

Conversation can be a learning experience for everyone. I never hesitate to reach out when I'm in over my head, and I'll never hesitate to return the favor.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Favors, Return, Conversation

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.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Moving, Government, Wind, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

When I got my commission, other land surveyors told me to ask for advice from my peers when I was struggling with something.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Struggle, Land, Advice, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

I'm lucky enough to split my time between the field and the office. Some land surveyors in larger outfits can work mostly from behind a desk, managing many field crews at once.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Land, Office, Lucky, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

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!

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Land, Giving, Chance, Positive Influence, Give It A Chance

Some land surveyors delve into land development advocacy, working with local government on behalf of clients in order to facilitate progress on a project. Others stick to strictly surveying. The approach depends on the individual firm and the needs of the local area.

Topics: Order, Land, Government, Surveyors, Land Surveyor

Learning how to weigh evidence and fairly re-establish a boundary can be as much an art as a science.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Art, Boundaries, Evidence

If you're looking for an adventure, an intellectual challenge, and a close-knit community of professionals, consider land surveying! It's not for everyone, and I'd recommend working as a surveyor's assistant or office staff before committing to the necessary schooling.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Surveyors

There are lots of ways to design a workflow - for instance, some land surveyors book their notes by hand, and some use electronic data collectors. Every firm has its own unique way of arriving at the end product. However, from a licensed land surveyor, the product should always be of the same high quality.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Surveyors, Land Surveyor, High Quality

I think that people can get caught up in the "gee-whiz" technology of surveying, which is constantly changing, and forget about the legal aspects and the professional responsibility that surveyors bear - something that hasn't changed much at all in hundreds of years.

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Surveyors

Some field days can be tough. I've worked inside fuel tanks with 3 foot ceilings, in -42 to +42 Celsius temperatures, in snow and smoke and hail, and I've dug through snow and ice and pavement to find legal evidence. I've worked clear through the night by headlamp, and I've flown in a rickety long-islander with propane tanks strapped into the other seats. I've jury-rigged missing equipment, broken into my own truck, and cut out an emergency helicopter pad with a machete. I've been hungry, cold, tired, lost, injured, and downright hopeless!

source: - "Career Spotlight: What I Do as a Land Surveyor". Interview with Andy Orin, lifehacker.com. December 10, 2015.

Topics: Propane, Machetes