Pioneer PROfiles - Adam Estes

Adam Estes (Caledonia, NY) was encouraged to check out surveying by his high school coach and that advice has led him to a career that he is excited to start. 

“I had no idea that I wanted to be a surveyor. My basketball coach is a surveyor and graduated from Alfred State. He encouraged me to try surveying and now here I am, and I have loved it ever since.”

Watch Adam's Pioneer PROfile video

As a surveying and geomatics engineering major, Adam loves the mix of his classes he has taken. “It is about half and half. We learn the fundamentals in the classroom and then they take you outside to learn how to use the equipment and how to do the fundamentals that they teach in the classroom. I love being outside.”

Adam has worked in the field the past three summers. He has worked on FEMA flood plan mapping, worked with the DOT on the NYS thruway stops, and has done culvert testing. Those experiences have taken him all over the state and given him more chances to use the tools he has learned in class.

“The GPS total stations we use in class are similar to the tools I have used in the field.”

The professors have added to his experiences at Alfred State. “The professors are all former surveyors. They have been out there so they can answer questions about the real-life events that they have dealt with.”

Alfred State offers the only accredited bachelor’s degree in New York. “Here they give you the fundamentals that you need to be able to go out into the surveying world. This degree is looked at in such a high level in the survey community.”

Adam will be in demand as he starts his search for a job. “I will look at a bunch of companies because I know right now surveyors are in very great demand. I know I will have a job. This career is not going away, and it is always going to be needed.”

Alfred State has elevated Adam’s career, and he does not see it leveling off soon.