Im thinking about moving to Alaska & I'll need a job (duh). Where is good for Surveying & Mapping? Hunting & fishing is my reason to move. The heat in Texas is killing me as well. H E L P !!

Check the oil industry on the Slope. They're into seismic testing all the time. I assume they like to know exactly where they are when working.

The mining industry has also been very busy lately with incresed mineral prices, and get's to travel around some pretty remote parts of the state. Plenty of construction and road work. Just start googling, and check the www.adn.com classifieds, also the fairbanks paper. Check the engineering firms in Anchorage, there having trouble finding enough folks to hire. I'd say it's a pretty good time to be looking for work in the state.

Unfortunately if you work in the cities, getting to good hunting is expensive, course you have to afford to live up here, a catch 22.

Thanks, Steve

Steve,
A lot of the state still hasn't been surveyed. Much of the State's conveyances from the Federal government (appx 105M acres) are still to be surveyed. Without the survey, the patent can't take place. There's a huge demand for cadastral surveyors, LSIT's, resource grade surveyors (though the pay isn't so well), and on and on...

Surveyors are in big demand as are GIS and CAD specialists. CAD professionals are needed, but if you have GIS background, that will give you more opportunities.

Unfortunately, at least for cadastral survey work, the field season extends through most hunting seasons, though it is possible to take some time off. It's tough to take the time when still have field work to do and winter is coming on though.

Construction surveys in towns are a little less hectic, though not anywhere near as fun and the pay is less.

I have been thinking alot about Fairbanks and was hoping one of you fellows are a surveyor there or knew one. I'm not a liscened surveyor but have plenty of good field experience. These days I mainly do cadd work and I'm tired of sitting in a chair all day. The only good thing is, in between jobs I can get on this forum.

Here's a good link for AK jobs:
AK Jobs

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Golden:
I have been thinking alot about Fairbanks and was hoping one of you fellows are a surveyor there or knew one. I'm not a liscened surveyor but have plenty of good field experience. These days I mainly do cadd work and I'm tired of sitting in a chair all day. The only good thing is, in between jobs I can get on this forum.

I'm an LS in Fairbanks. You should have a PM.

DPhillips: What do you mean by GIS specialists?

Geographic Information Systems. Mapping programs used for analysis. Large demand in most industries these days. ArcInfo is probably the most popular or standard program. Autodesk has their own now, as do amny others. Similar to CAD with a database driving the spatial data.

GIS = "Get It Surveyed"

quote:

Originally posted by akpls:
GIS = "Get It Surveyed"

The Monument controls (!), no matter who did the GIS work! Once every knucklehead with a GIS package figures that out, life will be much easier.

A map is not necessarily a plat...

akpls/DPhillips is Alaska Township & Range?

We do have U.S. Surveys and Mineral Surveys, but most public and Native Corp land is aliquot part descriptions (township, range, section, and further breakdown). Residential stuff is different, I suppose, but I've not done that in a long, long time.

quote:

Originally posted by DPhillips:
.... Residential stuff is different, I suppose....

Mostly "lot & block" subdivisions around town, except for the dreaded "Tax Lot." A lot of tax lots tend to be parcels that were conveyed by deed prior to any platting regs. They always seem to be poorly monumented or not monumented at all. Generally they become a PITA.

Texas is really different - all land is (was originally) owned by the general public & not managed by the BLM. Mexican grants in leagues, labors, grants from Texas when it was its' own country, railroad surveys in large blocks divided into sections and then in a few small areas we have township & Range.