Celebrated annually since 1984, National Surveyors Week is dedicated to recognizing and promoting the importance of surveyors and the surveying profession. We are excited to take this week to highlight our dedicated survey team that support our engineering and planning groups and the work we do at MJ. In honor of this week, and the impact our survey group has played in our firm’s overall success, we have reached out to members of our staff to learn more about the profession and how they became interested in the industry. Make sure to tune in to our social media accounts this week as we continue to recognize the contributions of professional surveyors!
“I really enjoy the independence and problem-solving aspects of land surveying. Every site and project are unique. No matter how long you've been doing it, you've never seen it all.” – Severin Grant, Survey Party Chief
“Technology in our industry is evolving at warp speed. With the innovations of UAV’s (drones), mobile mapping, LiDAR, 3D scanning, among other emerging technologies, it can get overwhelming trying to keep up. As a traditional land surveyor, it is good to remind oneself that these tools have been developed to help our industry, not take away from it. These tech options can greatly improve the time and effort involved in larger scale survey projects. The understanding of how and when to implement, utilize, and control these complex tools will still need input and insight from professional land surveyors.” - Corey Reid, PLS, Project Manager
“In college, I studied civil engineering with an emphasis in architecture. During that time, I took an introduction to land surveying course. I found the class interesting. I moved to Arizona in 1988 to further pursue architecture but was soon losing interest in the field. I decided to move back to New York. Two weeks after being home, I saw an ad for a rod person and decided to apply for the position. I like being outdoors and thought it was the fit was perfect. I was learning a new career and quickly moved into the crew chief role and was gaining more responsibility on projects. From there, I continued to grow into the role of MJ’s senior CAD technician. I feel that my work ethics and commitment to my profession are greatly appreciated. Looking back on my life’s story, I am genuinely grateful in my career choice.” – Michael Frisbee, Senior CAD Technician
“Prior to joining MJ, I was working for a different company where, very early on I was given a large project to work independently on from start to finish. I quickly realized I was in over my head and unprepared for the responsibilities that I was being asked to take on. However, I pushed on. I thought I had enough experience to work through any problem I would come across and teach myself the rest. I did the deed research to prepare the project, I worked closely with the field crew, I even met with my first client in the field. The meeting with the client was the first bump on a very bumpy road, as I had limited experience communicating with clients. I was overwhelmed by the questions I was asked. While determining the boundary, I was faced with aspects of survey work that I had no experience with. I learned more from that one project than I have on any other project. I learned more than basic surveying knowledge. I learned to work with clients and by the end I had established a good connection with the client and was able to answer all his questions. I was exposed to a wide variety of techniques to approach boundary determinations. I also learned a valuable lesson about leadership. I was able to take that experience, learn from it, and going forward use it to positively impact the company I work for now.” – Ashley Metz, Survey Technician