Who is an assistant surveyor and what does he do?
The vacancy of a surveyor's assistant is very worthily represented, as a rule, in those cities that are rapidly developing and actively being built up. For a young specialist, this is exactly what is needed, here he will be able to create excellent conditions for his future family. But before applying for training in this specialty, you need to figure out what it is.
Peculiarities
Geodesy as a science deals with the issues of determining the exact shape of the Earth and the principles of its display on paper. As you know, our planet has an approximately spherical shape, but maps are drawn on flat paper. Respectively, originally, a surveyor is a person who was inextricably linked with cartography and understood how to correctly schematically convey uneven terrain on a flat map surface.
In the modern world, a surveyor is, rather, an indispensable employee at a construction site. Its tasks also include determining the shape of the earth, but not on a global scale, but in the conditions of a limited area allocated for development. As you know, there is no perfectly flat and even surface in nature, and so the task of the surveyor is to create an idea of what kind of terrain is at the disposal of the developer.
In fact, an adequate building plan cannot be designed until the designer receives geodetic information about the site. The difference between a surveyor and his assistant, in fact, lies only in the gradation of education - the former usually has a higher education and can work with maps even at the scale of entire regions, while the latter is a simpler specialist and is focused specifically on construction sites.
In principle, construction work is available to both.
Responsibilities
The job description of a surveyor assistant involves a number of tasks that need to be performed on a daily basis. Let's try to list them briefly, without losing anything:
- performing geodetic (mapping taking into account the elevation difference) work, rechecking existing terrain schemes, checking the project for compliance with the real situation on the site;
- carrying out layout work, drawing up markings on the ground in accordance with the approved development plan;
- regular monitoring of the degree of correctness of the project by the workers, in case of a deviation from the norm, the assistant surveyor is obliged to immediately report this to the chief engineer of the developer company;
- assessment of buildings and structures for deformation;
- promptly informing the company's management about any emergency situations arising from the fact that the workers did not comply with the geometry of the object;
- final check of the object for compliance with the project and the main geometric conditions, drawing up documentation on the results of such an check;
- selective control of geodetic equipment, periodic checks of the readings of instruments and instruments by comparison with other similar instruments and instruments;
- direct participation in the delivery of the erected structure to the customer, professional confirmation that the object was built in accordance with all the rules and is completely safe;
- control and periodic check of geodetic marks, making corrections to their position, if it was changed due to natural or man-made reasons.
The activities of an assistant surveyor are regulated by a number of documents, including government acts and the charter of the employing organization, an employment contract, and so on. In addition to them, the employee must follow the instructions of direct supervisors regarding his professional field of activity.
The Survey Assistant is obliged to collect and provide geodetic data in a timely manner, assuming responsibility for their correctness and accuracy.
Knowledge and skills
An assistant surveyor is a specialist with a number of specific skills, without which the adequate performance of his work is not possible. Having received the appropriate education, you will probably be familiar with all the necessary branches of knowledge, but it will not be superfluous to list what exactly you will have to know. First of all, the surveyor must be familiar with the current government requirements for conducting geodetic works - this is the only way he can work without breaking the law. Undoubtedly, the ability to work with geodetic instruments, as well as the skill of their plausible verification, will also come in handy.
Modern geodesy actively uses computers to obtain faster and more accurate results., therefore, the assistant surveyor must be able to use the appropriate computer programs. A professional must know well the mathematical theory for his industry, must understand the methods of surveying the terrain for different needs and the existing rules for installing geodetic marks - so that their position is as unbreakable as possible. Economic component erection of an object should also not be alien to such an employee - if he has practical considerations about how to reduce the cost of a project without reducing safety, he can and should declare this.
Among other things, the professional is obliged to navigate related legislation, for example, in the labor industry. In addition, he needs knowledge of the rules of labor protection and fire safety. Finally, he must be familiar with the charter of the employer and the rules of work adopted by him, and act strictly within their framework.
Education
The performance of geodetic work presupposes the presence of a significant baggage of knowledge and skills, therefore a person without a specialized education in this position cannot cope. Another thing is that there are a lot of options for obtaining the appropriate education and you just need to choose where to go.
The profession of an assistant surveyor does not necessarily imply a higher education: in fact, you can even study a specialty at a construction college. At the same time, a lot depends on whether you want to work at a construction site, because geodesy and cartography are needed in other industries, therefore the same specialty can be obtained in educational institutions of polytechnic, cartographic, meteorological profiles. You need to understand that in each case, they will try to make a specialist of a relatively narrow profile, and employers will not always be ready to hire the same surveyor's assistant in construction, who at the same time studied in the meteorological profile.
Wherein higher education naturally opens up somewhat broader prospects for the graduate - in many cases, he can already work in any direction, one way or another related to geodesy.
You can find the appropriate specialty in those universities where a geography faculty is provided, as well as in universities and academies of a civil engineering profile.
Where does it work?
A young specialist with no work experience can be appointed as a surveyor without a category if he has a higher education, in all other cases he becomes an assistant surveyor and will work under someone's direction. As for the spheres of activity, there are a lot of options.
First, it is the compilation of maps and plans of the area. It can be both large-scale maps that clarify the topography of the territory, and geodetic diagrams of newly discovered mineral deposits, or even meteorological maps, which, taking into account the terrain, make weather forecasts more efficiently.
Secondly, it is participation in construction - from assessing the future construction site for the possibility of implementing a potential project to marking on the ground in accordance with the drawn up plan and checking the geometric correctness of the construction. It should be understood that a surveyor's assistant is involved in the construction of absolutely any objects, and not just buildings - the services of an appropriate specialist are in demand, including when laying roads.
For obvious reasons, surveyors' assistants are more needed where construction is underway - first of all, Moscow, St. Petersburg and some other large cities. Nevertheless, one person may well find himself even in the wilderness, if this wilderness is promising, and he was the first in it.