How To Become An Assistant Surveyor: What It Is and Career Path

What is an assistant surveyor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an assistant surveyor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.94 an hour? That's $45,629 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAssistant SurveyorUS Average

Salary

3.6

Avg. Salary $45,629

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.8

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.52%

Asian 5.07%

Black or African American 3.40%

Hispanic or Latino 11.05%

Unknown 4.85%

White 75.11%

Gender

female 16.92%

male 83.08%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

7.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.3

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an assistant surveyor

Explore assistant surveyor education requirements

Most common assistant surveyor degrees

Bachelor's

52.3 %

Associate

18.7 %

High School Diploma

12.4 %

Start to develop specific assistant surveyor skills

Skills	Percentages
Autocad	15.09%
Survey Data	11.10%
GIS	8.43%
Survey Equipment	7.63%
Construction Layout	6.64%

Complete relevant assistant surveyor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New assistant surveyors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an assistant surveyor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real assistant surveyor resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming an licensed assistant surveyor usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed assistant surveyor in most of states. 44 states require assistant surveyors to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Licensed Land Surveyor
Maryland	Degree required	State exam required	PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR
Alaska	-	-	Land Surveyor
Arkansas	-	State exam required	Professional Surveyor
California	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Land Surveyor

Research assistant surveyor duties and responsibilities

Stake and pick up of boreholes in kakosa and Kanduba areas under exploration.
Design underground haulageways and boreholes.
Adjust and operate surveying instruments such as prisms, theodolites, and electronicdistance-measuring equipment.
Develop new data from photogrammetric records.

Prepare your assistant surveyor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your assistant surveyor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an assistant surveyor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable assistant surveyor resume templates

Build a professional assistant surveyor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your assistant surveyor resume.