Published: 21 Aug 2024
August is a key month for many students as the results from GCSE and A Level examinations are announced. With the results comes the opportunity to choose a career path. Land surveying offers a diverse and interesting range of roles. There are a number of routes to get into surveying in the first place. For school leavers seeking their first position, it is useful to have GCSEs in Maths and English. Geography is also often cited as a good option too.
Good numeracy skills for surveying
You don’t need to be a Maths genius to work in surveying, but good solid numeracy skills are desirable. In practice, Maths is used to interpret and verify data. A good understanding of the fundamentals of geometry is particularly important too, as geometry will be used to calculate angles, distances and elevations. This includes converting measurements taken in the field into usable formats, calculating areas, and determining property boundaries. As the role will involve a great deal of measuring, it’s certainly useful to have a real eye for detail and accuracy too. Thanks to technology, many techniques are fully automated, but as any surveyor will tell you, you need to make sure that the results you are getting make sense. If they do not, user error may well be the issue!
Surveyors need an enthusiasm for technology
From 3D laser scanning to mobile mapping, there are many opportunities to work with exciting and cutting-edge technology. So, any young person with enthusiasm for technology may well find that they are a perfect match for this profession.
Working in the surveying profession includes problem solving at lots of different levels on a variety of different projects. A healthy dose of common sense is also invaluable for anyone starting out. You really do need to be able to keep your wits about you. Working conditions in a range of different environments can change rapidly. Whether it’s coping with varying extremes of weather, or changes of plan on a construction site, you need to be able to think for yourself and make rapid, well-informed decisions.
Enjoy the great outdoors when you work as a surveyor
If you choose to work in land surveying, you need to be prepared to spend a proportion of your time working outside, so if you love being outdoors, then land survey could be the perfect career for you. If you are considering pursuing a career in land surveying you should also consider if spending time working alone or in a small team is for you, as you may find yourself spending much of your time away from your office. A certain amount of resilience and a ‘can do’ attitude will be invaluable.
If you want to find out more about working in land surveying, go to https://www.becomeasurveyor.com/.
