How To Become A Survey Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a survey engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average survey engineer salary is $47,960. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an civil engineering major. It usually takes 4-6 years of experience to become a survey engineer. Survey engineers with a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 22,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSurvey EngineerUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,960

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 12.02%

Black or African American 4.07%

Hispanic or Latino 11.90%

Unknown 4.71%

White 66.99%

Gender

female 7.88%

male 92.12%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a survey engineer

Explore survey engineer education requirements

Most common survey engineer degrees

Bachelor's

64.4 %

Associate

14.4 %

Master's

9.9 %

Start to develop specific survey engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
GPS	31.44%
Vertical Control	11.28%
Autocad	6.22%
CAD	5.70%
RF	5.56%

Complete relevant survey engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New survey engineers 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 a survey engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real survey engineer resumes.

Research survey engineer duties and responsibilities

Create maps and graphs, using GIS software and relate equipment.
Select the control point (BM) by GPS or global positioning system.
Utilize hands on equipment, total stations, GPS units, data collectors, and optical levels.
Perform calculations necessary to prepare individual residential lot permit and as-built plans necessary for township approval.

Prepare your survey engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your survey engineer 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 a survey engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable survey engineer resume templates

Build a professional survey engineer 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 survey engineer resume.