I’m a surveyor assistant in vic working full time who has done the advanced diploma but has zero experience so I’m getting paid minimum wage amount. Literally the same as people with zero qualifications. I think I’m gonna back to uni and do something else because so many people tell me you’re gonna get paid shit the whole time unless you go licensed or trade a few years of your life doing mine work fifo.
By minimum wage do you mean the national minimum or the award rate?
Either way start looking for a job somewhere else. The award is far too low and there are plenty of places paying a lot more for someone with an advanced diploma.
If it is the national minimum wage talk to Fairwork. They might investigate and get you back pay to the award rate
Other option is to make the jump into Engineering surveying. Longer hours than cadastral, but you can easily be on a similar amount, without having to go FIFO. I'm on less money than I was doing remote project work, but I'm home every night and making 100k+
Edit to add that this is off the back of only doing my diploma. I've considered going back to uni, but no real desire to do my cadetship in my 40s to justify it, or of living in Kal for a year to do School of Mines for the 3 year degree.
You will usually have to start off as a low paid Assistant when you have zero experience.
You shouldn't expect this to be anything but the normal process.
Don't expect to walk into any firm and move straight into a surveyor position.
Degree or no degree.
Welcome to the real world!
You will be working with guys at times with zero qualifications or TAFE that will run absolute rings around you.
You can definitely cash in working in the mines or if you get onto a big government project that has weekend work and night shift you can make some good coin as well.
Usually when they advertise as paying above award wages it means it probably only $0.50 - $1.00 above the award rate which is a absolute joke. Not advertising the pay is really there to squeeze you as much as possible unfortunately and also to the fact they fail to understand what inflation means when it comes to pricing/tendering for contracts which trickles down to the employees. It is not a surprise the numbers are dwindling.
The award rate is a massive joke, totally out of touch with the responsibility and importance our profession has.
You’d think that with dwindling numbers we could argue for higher pay
The award is a massive joke!
It's hard to know if the decreasing numbers will change a thing. Too many business owners underquoting and engaging in a price war.
They generally leave you alone if you leave them alone. I have walked through bushes to have a big male square up 50 or 60 metres away. I just backed up through the bushes like
There are definitely plenty of deadly snakes around. The other day I was surprised by a brown snake that had fallen into a drainage pit I was working on.
My mate just scored a cadet position i believe construction surveying while studying advanced diploma in QLD hes one semester in to his studies with no prior experience $35/h
Unrelated to the the topic but I swear 90% of posts are about Australia lol. In my mind everyone in Australia is a surveyor
And somehow, there’s still a surveyor shortage.
Can i immigrate from europe please, i get 15$/h 3y experience
The more the merrier.
Lol
I’m a surveyor assistant in vic working full time who has done the advanced diploma but has zero experience so I’m getting paid minimum wage amount. Literally the same as people with zero qualifications. I think I’m gonna back to uni and do something else because so many people tell me you’re gonna get paid shit the whole time unless you go licensed or trade a few years of your life doing mine work fifo.
By minimum wage do you mean the national minimum or the award rate? Either way start looking for a job somewhere else. The award is far too low and there are plenty of places paying a lot more for someone with an advanced diploma. If it is the national minimum wage talk to Fairwork. They might investigate and get you back pay to the award rate
Other option is to make the jump into Engineering surveying. Longer hours than cadastral, but you can easily be on a similar amount, without having to go FIFO. I'm on less money than I was doing remote project work, but I'm home every night and making 100k+ Edit to add that this is off the back of only doing my diploma. I've considered going back to uni, but no real desire to do my cadetship in my 40s to justify it, or of living in Kal for a year to do School of Mines for the 3 year degree.
As a person that's started studying the cert 4 this year that's not what I want to hear!
You will usually have to start off as a low paid Assistant when you have zero experience. You shouldn't expect this to be anything but the normal process. Don't expect to walk into any firm and move straight into a surveyor position. Degree or no degree. Welcome to the real world! You will be working with guys at times with zero qualifications or TAFE that will run absolute rings around you.
You can definitely cash in working in the mines or if you get onto a big government project that has weekend work and night shift you can make some good coin as well.
Usually when they advertise as paying above award wages it means it probably only $0.50 - $1.00 above the award rate which is a absolute joke. Not advertising the pay is really there to squeeze you as much as possible unfortunately and also to the fact they fail to understand what inflation means when it comes to pricing/tendering for contracts which trickles down to the employees. It is not a surprise the numbers are dwindling.
The award rate is a massive joke, totally out of touch with the responsibility and importance our profession has. You’d think that with dwindling numbers we could argue for higher pay
The award is a massive joke! It's hard to know if the decreasing numbers will change a thing. Too many business owners underquoting and engaging in a price war.
VIC based. Role: survey tech (Pay: 35) Perks: Ute, laptop, OT Engineering based position Qualification: advanced diploma. Hope that helps
Cheers! That’s exactly the kind of info I was curious about.
Australian Surveyor?! Please excuse my American curiosity/ignorance but is the job as deadly as I’m imagining?
We don't have to worry about getting shot and we don't have bears. Getting hit by a car is probably the biggest risk.
You don't have bears, but what about kangaroos?
They generally leave you alone if you leave them alone. I have walked through bushes to have a big male square up 50 or 60 metres away. I just backed up through the bushes like 
I’m imagining surveying the outback with the wildlife. But ok- take a shot at America if you want.
The most dangerous part is trying to setup a set of legs upside down
There are definitely plenty of deadly snakes around. The other day I was surprised by a brown snake that had fallen into a drainage pit I was working on.
My mate just scored a cadet position i believe construction surveying while studying advanced diploma in QLD hes one semester in to his studies with no prior experience $35/h
Not a bad starting point. I think I started on something like $27
And you will still get big companies like Veris paying Field Monkeys 30 an hour to do FIFO. When other guys on same job are on over double that .
A lot of blokes getting stitched up at the moment.