[Email rec'd 8-22-2006 from Hans J. Andersen, AMS/SMS]
Having just entered the 40th year of practice as a marine surveyor I can readily assure you that this profession cannot be taught over the Internet. Steve's course is a very good course and I would say that everyone could glean some good out of it.
In so far as Pat's course is concerned, I would say that how a report is written is the purview of the surveyor. One of the biggest complaints I hear from underwriters of late is that all survey reports look alike. They prefer the individually produced reports over the cookie cutter reports. That gives them a chance to observe who knows their stuff and who doesn't.
It seems that everything in our lives is turning into cookie cutter mentality with no individualism. It is that very individual part of the job that success is hinged upon. If a surveyor cannot write a report clearly, perhaps he/she should not be a surveyor. Aside from boat knowledge, the most important aspect of our job is clearly delineating our findings in the written word. This is something that is learned in a lifetime, not in a few weeks.
Best regards,
Hans J. Andersen, AMS/SMS
Accredited Marine Surveyor/Senior Marine Surveyor - SAMS
1305 North H Street, Suite A-329
Lompoc, CA 93436, USA
TEL 805-452-7013
FAX 805-737-0346
E-MAIL hbandersen@aol.com
Having just entered the 40th year of practice as a marine surveyor I can readily assure you that this profession cannot be taught over the Internet. Steve's course is a very good course and I would say that everyone could glean some good out of it.
In so far as Pat's course is concerned, I would say that how a report is written is the purview of the surveyor. One of the biggest complaints I hear from underwriters of late is that all survey reports look alike. They prefer the individually produced reports over the cookie cutter reports. That gives them a chance to observe who knows their stuff and who doesn't.
It seems that everything in our lives is turning into cookie cutter mentality with no individualism. It is that very individual part of the job that success is hinged upon. If a surveyor cannot write a report clearly, perhaps he/she should not be a surveyor. Aside from boat knowledge, the most important aspect of our job is clearly delineating our findings in the written word. This is something that is learned in a lifetime, not in a few weeks.
Best regards,
Hans J. Andersen, AMS/SMS
Accredited Marine Surveyor/Senior Marine Surveyor - SAMS
1305 North H Street, Suite A-329
Lompoc, CA 93436, USA
TEL 805-452-7013
FAX 805-737-0346
E-MAIL hbandersen@aol.com
Pat Kearns replies:
ReplyDeleteNo one would agree with the statement that surveying cannot be taught over the Internet more than I, and so I hasten to say that we are not attempting to teach "this profession" over the Internet.
I also say that, sadly, there is an abysmal lack of opportunity to learn the elements of marine surveying (The Chapman School notwithstanding) and that is, largely, because there is an equally abysmal failure of the profession to provide educational opportunity for its own. That will, ultimately, be the impediment to the craft and its craftsmen achieving the status of "professional."
Individually, some, perhaps many of the practitioners will rise to the level of professional because they have defied the rule and become exceptions, constantly learning and constantly teaching by their example. There are many venues for learning but none of them promise any professional, in any discipline, that any single venue or forum is the limit to learning. Learning is a lifetime pursuit unless one thinks that one already knows enough to be considered adequate to the task at hand.
Throughout my course, the advantages of an individual mark of each surveyor's written work product is emphasized. It's what sets his product apart from others. It's the package in which he wraps his expertise. It's a simple marketing concept adapted to our purpose.
Wrap a great product (the surveyor's opinions) in user-friendly packaging (the report) that meets the client's need for information that is readily accessible, accurate, precise, etc. and the surveyor is well on his way to becoming a professional among his competition. The report's content must be consistent. How that content is conveyed is precisely what the course is about. The variable is what the individual can do to make his report stand out and, in turn, how that reporting expertise makes the individual stand out professionally. The report is the documented evidence of observations. The surveyor's resume is the place to look for who "knows their stuff and who doesn't" and continuing education, no matter where or how it's consumed, is a mark of that in every profession.
Contrary to Mr. Anderson's reporting that underwriters make judgments on surveyor's qualifications based on their reports, underwriters make those determinations based on well those reports meet their needs for information. A slick report with perfect grammar and spelling is not the mark of "who knows their stuff." That is, in fact, the danger of standardized report programs. They can create an impression of competence where little exists.
Many a good surveyor is doomed to fail because of poor report writing skills or, as in the context of Steve Knox's course, the lack of knowledge about how to run a business. Can't learn that in a few weeks either but you also can't wait to run your business into the ground and then stand proud as having learned from the experience. What a terrible waste that would be. The entire purpose of my course is to raise awareness of how important one's report is as a reflection of one's expertise. What we are working to convey in this course is that, too often, the "value of a thorough inspection by a good surveyor is often lost in a lousy report." Thank you, Bob Adriance, BOAT U.S. for those inspiring words.
The course emphasis is entirely on developing writing skills and makes no attempt to standardize a report. The course's objective is to standardize excellent reporting by integrating well proven writing skills. The syllabus is clear on all those points.
I don't see a “cookie cutter” mentality at all. In fact, the very issue of putting learning opportunity on the Internet is a contradiction to this statement. The ProBoat courses defy "cookie cutter" thinking by taking the bold leap into a learning environment that brings individualism to the forefront.
There are no born writers, artists, musicians, etc. There are people who are born with varying degrees of inherent talent that must be focused and trained and practiced to achieve desired levels of expertise.
I would not condemn a talented surveyor prospect to flipping burgers because he doesn't write well. I believe that prospect can learn to write and every one of us can learn to write better.
Every skill that a person needs to be a successful surveyor can be taught and learned but it is the ongoing experiential existence that is the ultimate teacher. Does one have to wait for 40 years of experience to be deemed adequate to the job? Ridiculous! Every one of us who has experience also has a responsibility to pass it on to the next generation so that it can embrace the experience of its predecessors.
Living is the learning experience of a lifetime and learning is lifetime of seizing every opportunity to learn something new or sharpen already practiced skills. The finest voices in song take lessons every day from their coaches, few of whom have risen to performance fame of their own.
We all know the Pavarottis of the world but few of us know the names of the people who took the raw gift of talent and helped to train and hone it to its potential.
To say that the ProBoat survey writing course will encourage "cookie cutter reports" is to presume that every talented tenor taking voice lessons will sing the same song the same way. If that were true, then only old doctors could be considered competent. Old doctors who don't continue to train are just old doctors. Would you go to an old neurosurgeon who bragged that his experience was good enough? That he learned brain surgery in medical school in the ‘50s and his experience proves his worth? That would scare me.
"Experience" comes in many forms and some things of extraordinary life value are learned in a single moment of enlightenment. Who knows where that moment will be? It might even be on the Internet!
Pat Kearns
pkearns@marinexperts.com