Lifestyle and Legacy of Professional Land Surveyors

Will Newall talks about how he got into surveying, and the lifestyle of legacy of being a professional Land Surveyor in New Zealand. 

The surveyor is the first guy to show up on site. An he’s the last guy to leave site. He’s there for the entire process of that construction project. The legacy is the quality of the product that is left there. In my case, the last job that I completed was an 18km long expressway, that is now finished, it looks fantastic. And for me seeing that finished product is everything. Without the survey department, nothing happens. Nothing is more important than the surveyors. A hundred percent.

We are specialists. As a breed of professionals, and it is professional, we are specialists. And there’s nobody quite like a surveyor I don’t think.

The lifestyle of a surveyor suits me as a person. One of my strengths was in trig based math, so that suits the surveyor’s needs. The requirement to use software - it’s just the way my mind works - made me compatible with the survey industry. Surveying is a combination of inside/outside as a lifestyle. You get to apply the mathematics side of things, which I enjoy, but now surveying is possibly the coolest job in the world because you get to use awesome equipment. And that equipment is designed to make you even better at your job.

Good equipment does not make a bad surveyor good. Good equipment makes a good surveyor even better. More efficient, better repeatability, on and off site, quicker, better results, better deliverables to your client, fantastic. And that’s cool. That’s cool to be a part of.

The advice I would give to young surveyors is make sure you study, work hard - but in that working hard - listen. Act like a sponge, pick up as much knowledge as you possibly can, because as a surveyor, knowledge is key to improvement, being better at your job. And leaving a legacy for the work that you’ve done.”

Will Newall, Professional Surveyor in New Zealand.