Finding My Boundaries: Interesting People I've Met While Surveying

The title is a double-entendre, because the main role of a land surveyor is to find the boundaries of property, but the author also describes how his life and morals were somewhat unbounded when he started into his career, but as he met more and more influential people, he began to find the moral and professional boundaries that helped form him into the surveyor he eventually became.

It seems that surveying attracts some of the most fascinating characters. Most of the people I've worked with were good, competent professionals; but for some reason, the position of rodman/chainman-the entry-level position on the survey crew-always attracted the lazy, happy-go-lucky types who were usually some kind of social misfit. I know the surveying profession has come a long way since the '70s, and I applaud the efforts of the surveying community, societies, and licensing boards to "clean up" the image of the surveyor and increase the public's appreciation of the profession. I still think we have a long way to go to get this point across and be fully recognized as true professionals.

We must realize, too, that some of these "goofballs" eventually decided to grow up and become responsible licensed surveyors-I'm one of those!