Quote: (04-05-2016 07:38 PM)Disco_Volante Wrote:
Land Surveying.
You use a GPS to stake points for construction, you mark the points with stakes and flags, then you use the GPS points you marked to upload to a CAD file the builders use to come in and build it.
My uncle has his own little surveying company in the Midwest, makes a little over 100k per year.
Your average surveyor only makes about 15-20 per hour, but if you have your own business and book a lot of jobs you can make a lot of money since it's highly specialized. You need various certifications which aren't even available at colleges.
Once you become certified and buy your own GPS systems you can be out on your own. A key part is developing relationships with construction managers and state construction authorities.
I interviewed for a land surveyor gig, they seem pretty legit and are mostly running around in the prairies. Living out of hotels and making good cash and riding around in a ATV. Pay was good too, start at 18/h, after a year 27/h and once you make crew lead it's 35/h. Usually 2 man crews and 10+hour days, so 200-300/day with hotels and food paid for. I ended up taking another company, but it seems like a great gig if your fresh outta school or don't have much education, you learn the to be hardy trekking in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of kms away from towns.